COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA 
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 



A DIGEST 

OF THE 

Laws Controlling School Attendance 



AND 



Employment of Minors 



Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 
1928 



COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA 
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 



A DIGEST 



OF THE 



Laws Controlling School Attendance 



AND 



Employment of Minors 



Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 
1928 



Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 

Harrisburg 



.1 



Superintendent of Public Instruction (\ * fv ^ 

John A. H. Keith h ^ Ar V^ O, 



Division I 



Division II 



Normal Schools, Secondary Schools, Special and Extension Edu- 
cation, Certification of Teachers, Institutes and Depart- 
mental Library 

James N. Rule, Deputy Superintendent 
Legal Relations and Services to School Districts 



William M. Denison, Deputy Superintendent 
Division III 

Vocational Education Under Federal (Smith-Hughes) and 
Pennsylvania Laws 

Lindley H. Dennis, Deputy Superintendent 
Division IV 

School Visitation, Conference and Advice 



Division V 



Robert C. Shaw, Deputy Superintendent 

Service to Professional Examining Boards and Higher Educa- 
tion 



Charles D. Koch, Deputy Superintendent 
Division VI 

State Library and Museum 

Frederic A, Godcharles, Director 



STATE COUNCIL OF EDUCATION 

John A. H. Keith, President and Chief Executive Officer 

Mrs. Edward W. Biddle Carlisle 

John J. Coyle Philadelphia 

Francis R. Cope, Jr Dimock 

Charles E. Dickey Pittsburgh 

Samuel S. Fleisher Philadelphia 

Weir C. Ketler Grove City 

Mrs. Alice F. Kiernan Overbrook 

F. A. Loveland Corry 

William R. Straughn Mansfield 

James N. Rule Secretary 



PENNSYLVANIA SCHOq%^^^^^^*t|^^|^p]MlNT BOARD 



H. H. Baish j '!V..l:?. 

1 NOV 17 1 



, Secretary 



1 



PREFACE 

This bulletin has been prepared to assist school officials in the 
interjiretation of the School Attendance and Child Labor Laws. 
Every superintendent, principal, teacher, director, secretary of board 
of directoi's, and other school official charged with responsibility 
in carrying out the requirements of these laws should be thoroughly 
familiar with the provisions of such laws and in full sympath}' with 
their general purpose. This bulletin should be kept for future 
reference. 



Revised by the Child Helping and Accounting Bureau 

Department of Public Instruction 

1928 



(3) 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



Part I 

LAWS CONTROLLING SCHOOL ATTENDANCE 

Page 

School Attendance , 5 

State Kegulatious Controlling Enrollment of Children, 5 

Duties of Parents or Guardians, Teachers, Directors and Attendance Officers, 6 

County and District Superintendents 14 

Penalties , 14 

Duties of Managers of Motion Picture Theatres , 15 

Procedure for Enforcing the Compulsory Attendance Law , 15 

Tuition, 15 

Transportation , 17 

Mental or Physical Unfitness, 17 

Sections of the School Law Governing Attendance, 18 

Attendance Forms 35 

Part II 

EMPLOYMENT OF MINORS 

Employment Certificates , 41 

Prohibited Occupations , 41 

Street Trades , 45 

Directions for the Issuance of Employment Certificates, 46 

When to Use the Various Forms and Certificates, 47 

General Employment Certificates , 48 

What the Minor Must Do to Secure an Employment Certificate, .... 48 
What the Issuing Officer, Employer, School Pinncipal, Doctor and 

Parent or Guardian Must Do, 48, 49, 50 

Vacation Employment Certificate, 50 

Age Certificate , 50 

Proof of Age, 51 

The Continuation School , 51 

Attendance at Continuation School , 53 

Hours of Work, 54 

Suggested Form Letters , 54 

Permit Required for Minor to Work on the Farm or at Domestic Service 

in Private Home , 56 

Sections of the Law Governing the Employment of Minors 59 

Specimens of Some Employment Forms 67 

(4) 



PART I 
SCHOOL ATTENDANCE 

It has been well said that the education of a child involves two 
factors, namely: (a) securing his attendance at school; (b) providing 
the proper educational opportunities for him while in school. 

It is the duty of the State to insist that every child of the Common- 
wealth receive at least an elementary school education that he may 
become an intelligent and law abiding citizen and be intellectually 
equipped to earn a livelihood for himself and those who may be 
dependent upon him. If the parent will not insist that the child 
take advantage of the free educational opportunities offered, it be- 
comes the duty of the Commonwealth to insist that the parent do 
his part, as a parent, to secure the education of the child. When the 
parent treats the child unjustly the Commonwealth steps in and 
protects the child. The parent who would allow his child to grow 
to manhood or womanhood without at least a common school 
education is doing the child a greater wrong than when he physically 
maltreats him. It is, therefore, that the child may receive his edu- 
cational birthright and that a democratic government may assure 
itself of a citizenry sufficiently educated to appreciate and to be 
able to enter intelligently upon the responsibilities of citizenship, 
that there are laws in all of the states to require school attendance. 

That every one responsible for carrying out the provisions of this 
law may know his own obligations, the requirements of the law have 
been stated in the following pages under the captions: Duties of 
Parents, Duties of Teachers, etc., while the law as given in the School 
Code is reproduced in the latter part of the bulletin. 

STATE REGULATIONS CONTROLLING THE ENROLL- 
MENT OF CHILDREN 

In order to standardize and make uniform the method of recording 
attendance data in the schools of the Commonwealth it is required 
that the following regulations be observed: 

The teacher's register of pupils belonging to her school shall 
contain the names of all children assigned by the school directors 
to her school from the enumeration list at the beginning of 
the term, and such additions as may be made thereto during the 
term, and no child shall be counted as not belonging to the school 
unless, upon investigation by the local attendance bureau or the 
proper school official, it shall be found that the child 

1. Is deceased, 

2. Has movedfrom the district. 

3. Is enrolled in another school. 

(5) 
J— 2 



6 

4. Is legally employed upon a General Employment Certi- 

ficate, or is legally employed upon an Exemption Per- 
mit. 

5. Is 16 years of age or over and has withdrawn from 

school. 

6. Has been certified b}- the medical inspector as perma- 

nently incapacitated and not a fit subject for educa- 
tion and training. 

7. Holds a superintendent's certificate showing the comple- 

tion of the work of the elementary school, resides two 
miles or more from any high school, and transporta- 
tion is not provided. 

John A. H. Keith, 
Siiperintendent of Public Instruction 

DUTIES OF PARENTS OR GUARDIANS, TEACHERS, 
DIRECTORS AND ATTENDANCE OFFICERS 

DUTIES OF PARENTS 

EVERY PARENT: 

1. Shall send a child between eight and sixteen years of age 
to a day school in which the common English branches are taught. 
(Every child between six and twenty-one years of age who is a resi- 
dent of this Commonwealth is entitled to a free education in the 
public schools of the Commonwealth. A child is considered a resi- 
dent of the district in which his parents or the person acting in 
the place of parents or guardian reside.) 

2. Shall require a child to attend school continuously throughout 
the entire term. 

3. Shall furnish a satisfactory written excuse for the absence of 
a child. (A legal excuse is the parents only protection from arrest. 
In case of arrest, the burden of proof is upon the parent to show 
that the absence of the child Avas properly excused by the teacher 
or the board of school directors.) 

4. Shall receive a written notice as soon as the child is absent 
three days, or the equivalent, without lawful excuse. (Repeated 
unexcused tardiness when equivalent to three day's absence consti- 
tutes a violation of the law.) 

5. Shall receive three days' notice but once during the term if 
the parent has been guilty of a violation of the Compulsory At- 
tendance Act. After such notice is given once the parent shall 
be subject to immediate arrest if after the child returns to school 
or after the expiration of the three days following the service of 
the written notice the child is again absent even for a single session 
without lawful excuse. 

6. Shall have a child vaccinated before the child may enter school. 
Non-compliance with the Vaccination Law is not a lawful excuse 
for a child's not attending s"chool. 

DUTIES OF TEACHERS 
TEACHERS: 

1. Shall co-operate in every possible way with the attendance 
officer, county or district superintendent and principal. 



2. Shall, when school opens, compare the assignment lists with 
their enrollment lists and report all pnpils of compulsory school age 
not in attendance, and all pnpils not enumerated but enrolled, to the 
superintendent, principal, or secretary of the school board. 

3. Shall require a written excuse with the reason stated for all 
tardiness and absence. (The teacher shall be the judge of the lawful- 
ness of an excuse for femjJorari/ absence on account of mental, physi- 
cal, or other urgent reasons. The term "urgent reasons," however, 
shall be strictly construed and shall not permit of irregular attend- 
ance.) 

4. Shall report promptly to attendance officer, superintendent, 
supervising principal or secretary, the names of all pupils who have 
been absent three days or their equivalent, without lawful excuse. 
(This means the aggregate of three days during the term and does not 
necessarily mean three consecutive days.) They shall also report 
promptly each subsequent unlawful absence. 

5. Shall report to the proper authority the withdrawal from school 
of any pupil during the term, and, when possible, give the reason 
for the withdrawal. 

6. Shall forward to superintendent, supervising principal, or 
secretary of the school l)oard of the district where a child will attend, 
a State transfer card for each pupil who moves from the district. 
If the proper official and his address cannot be determined, the card 
shall be sent to the Child Helping and Accounting Bureau, Depart- 
ment of Public Instruction. Every district should use local transfer 
cards to account for transfers within the district. 

7. Shall count as not belonging only those pupils who are per- 
manently excused for reasons mentioned on page 5 of this bulletin. 
(Teachers shall consider pupils as belonging to the school even 
though they may be absent temporarily on account of sickness.) 

8. Shall fill out the monthly attendance report forms required 
by the Department of Public Instruction and forward them to the 
superintendent or principal of the school not later than the third 
day of each calendar month. 

9. Shall make, within three days after the close of each school 
month, to the secretary of the board of school directors, in attend- 
ance books provided by the Department of Public Instruction, 
monthly reports of the attendance of each pupil. No teacher shall 
he paid until the monthly attendance reports have heen forwarded 
to the principal or superintendent having jurisdiction. 

10. Shall keep all attendance data easily available at the school 
at all times for inspection by the superintendent or state supervisor. 

11. Shall excuse absence for one of the following reasons only: 
sickness of the child, death in the immediate family, quarantine, im- 
passable roads, weather so inclement as to endanger the health of 
the child, approved absence during non-compulsory attendance period 
or approved absence of pupils of non-compulsory attendance age, ex- 
ceptionally urgent reasons. (The term "urgent reason" shall be 
strictly construed and shall not permit of irregular attendance. 
"Other urgent reasons" must be used onl}^ in such unavoidable 
absences as affect the child directly.) 

12. Shall classify all other absences as unexcused under the heads 
of O' parental neglect, Q), illegal employment, ®, truancy. 



8 

13. Shall report to the Child Helping and Accounting Bureau, 
Department of Public Instruction when they cannot secure attendance 
by action of the local board of school directors. 

14. Shall exclude all pupils quarantined for communicable dis- 
eases. 

15. Shall refuse admittance to a child who has not been vaccinated 
unless permission is given by the health authorities to receive said 
child for a limited time. 



DUTIES OF TEACHERS IN OTHER THAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

ALL PRINCIPALS OR TEACHERS: 

1. Shall, on the opening of school, furnish to the district superin- 
tendent, supervising principal or secretary of the school board of 
their respective districts, a list of names and residences of all pupils 
under their jurisdiction. 

2. Shall report daily all truancy and all unlawful absences to the 
proper puMic scJiool officer or official who has charge of the enforce- 
ment of the School Attendance Law. 

DUTIES OF DIRECTORS 

THE BOARD OF SCHOOL DIRECTORS : 

1. Shall, between April first and September first of each year, 
have made an accurate enumeration of all children residing in the 
district between the ages of six and sixteen years. 

2. Shall subdivide the district, classify and assign the pupils in 
such manner that all pupils shall be assigned to, and reasonably ac- 
commodated in, one of the schools of the district. 

3. Shall assign pupils to the school which they should attend. 
(The board of school directors shall make no distinction because of 
race or color of pupils.) 

4. Shall fill out properly and forward to the County or District 
Superintendent summary of enumeration (Form E2) on or before the 
first day of October. (Section 1426 — School Laws of Pennsylvania.) 

5. Shall arrange with another district, if possible, and assign 
pupils to a school in other districts in case no school is maintained 
in the district within two miles of the home of the pupil and f^ree 
transportation is not provided to another school. When pupils are 
so assigned the school board of the home district shall enforce the 
Compulsory Attendance Law. 

6. Shall, under specified conditions, allow pupils whose parents 
do not reside within the district to attend school without tuition. 
(See Section 1402). 

7. Shall, whenever it closes a school, assign the pupils to other 
schools, and shall under certain conditions provide transportation. 
(Sections 1406-1408). 

8. Shall, before the opening of school, furnish the teacher with 
a correct list of the pupils assigned to his or her school. 

9. Shall fix the length of the school term, which cannot be less 
than' one hundred sixty days of actual teaching in elementary schools 



9 

in fourth class districts nor less than one hundred eighty days of 
actual teaching in elementary schools in first, second, and third class 
districts, and in high schools of all classes. Institutes, holidays or 
other days, or parts of days, when pupils are dismissed without having 
done the regular work of a session, or school day, or the equivalent, 
cannot be considered a session or day taught. Shall count no ses- 
sion as a full session taught unless the school has actually been in 
session the required number of hours.) 

10. Shall, in districts of the fourth class, hefore the opening of 
the school term, fix the date for the period of compulsoi'y attend- 
ance to begin, provided, the period of compulsory attendance, which 
cannot be less than seventy per cent, of the school term, is to be 
reduced for children fourteen years of age or over. 

11. Shall require regular school sessions from 9 :00 A. M. to 12 M. 
and from 1:00 P. M. to 4:00 P. M., unless it shall seem otherwise 
advisable. (A reasonable period for recess may be allowed during 
both sessions. The single session school day does not meet the ap- 
proval of the Department of Public Instruction.) 

12. Shall decide on what holidays, other than Christmas and 
July 4th, the schools shall be closed. 

13. Shall require the attendance of all pupils between eight and 
sixteen years of age who live within two miles of a school and of all 
pupils between the ages of eight and sixteen years for whom trans- 
portation is furnished. 

14. Shall admit, during the first two weeks of the annual school 
term, those pupils who are six years of age, or who will become six 
years of age after the beginning of the school term and before the 
first day of January of any year. 

15. Shall admit, during the first two weeks of January of every 
year, those pupils who are six years of age or who will become six 
years of age after January first and before the close of the school 
term. (The board of school directors may fix other periods for the 
admission of beginners. Section 1403) 

16. Shall, if they deem it advisable, excuse a child for a con- 
tmuous period from attending school. This must be done, however, 
upon satisfactory evidence being furnished to the board of school 
directors showing that the child is prevented from attending school, 
or from application to study, on account of his mental or physical 
condition or for other urgent reasons. (A school board shall not 
consider employment of children as an ''urgent reason" ; ''urgent 
reason" refers to the welfare of the child and not to the convenience 
of the parent or guardian.) 

17. Shall, as provided for in the law, issue through their author- 
ized officials employment certificates for minors engaged in specified 
industries and permits for farm and domestic service. 

18. Shall not require a minor for whom a general employment 
certificate has been legally issued to attend a regular day schook 
while employed. (Such minors shall attend a continuation school 
if a continuation school is accessible. 

19. Shall not require a minor for whom an exemption permit 
(Form P-FDS-EX) for employment on a farm or in domestic service 
in a private home has been legally issued, to attend a regular day 
school during the period specified in the permit. 



10 

20. Shall require a minor for whom a general employment eer- 
tilicate or an exemption permit has been issued to attend a continua- 
tion school eight hours per week. If the minor refuses to attend, 
the certificate or permit shall be revoked and the minor returned to 
day school. 

21. Shall be the sole judge of the reasonableness of an excuse 
for continued periods of absence of a pupil. 

22. Shall, in every first, second and third class district, employ 
one or more attendance officers. In fourth class districts they 
should employ one. The supervising principal and the secretary of 
the board of school directors of the district, in the order named, 
shall enforce the Compulsory Attendance Law in districts of the 
fourth class, if an attendance officer is not employed. 

23. Shall, when they deem it advisable, join with another district 
in the employment of an attendance officer to investigate cases of 
delinquency and to enforce the Compulsory Attendance Law. 

24. Shall act for the school district as prosecutor of individuals 
who violate the Compulsory Attendance Law. 

25. Shall pay out of the funds of the school district the cost of 
legal proceedings if the cost of such proceedings cannot be collected 
from the offender, or if the proceedings are discontinued. 

26. Shall suspend for a definite period, or reinstate, any child 
suspended by a principal or teacher. (The hoard of school directors 
shall not expel any pupU of compulsory age from school unless it 
makes provision for his education, or disposition, as provided hy law.) 

27. Shall, through the secretary, superintendent, supervising 
principal, or attendance officer, report the lack of food or clothing 
for any pupil of the district, to one of the following agencies: 

1. Any local relief agency. 

2. Overseers of the poor. 

3. County commissioners. 

1. Mothers' Assistance Fund. 

28. Shall exclude from the regular public schools any pupil, 
teacher, or employe, affiicted with tuberculosis of the lungs. 

29. Shall, when it deems advisable, establish and maintain special 
schools for pupils having tuberculosis of the lungs. 

30. Shall report to the medical inspector of the district the names 
and addresses of all children w^ho, because of apparent exceptional 
physical or mental condition, are not being properly educated. (Sec- 
tion 1413.) 

31. Shall, under specified conditions, make provision, for the 
education of the deaf, blind or crippled children of the district. 
^Sections 1413, 1414, 1439 and 1440.) 

32. Shall exclude from school all pupils who have not been vac- 
cinated. 

33. Shall submit such reports of attendance to the Superintendent 
of Public Instruction as may be required by him. 

34. Shall comj)ly with as ivell as enforce the provisions of the 
Attendance Laws. 



11 

QUALIFICATIONS OF ATTENDANCE OFFICERS 

The selection of the attendance officer is one of the most important 
duties the board of school directors has to perform. An attend- 
ance officer should be a person who has maturity and judgment and 
the power to analyze a situation carefully so that at no time will 
he commit an injustice; and yet, the attendance officer must have 
strength of character to enforce the x>i'ovisions of the law so that 
every child shall receive, as a minimum, a common school education. 

The attendance officer should have an education equivalent, at 
least, to the work of the first eight grades of the public schools. 
College graduates are attendance officers in many cities and they 
find the field one of real service. Women who have had the proper 
training and experience make excellent attendance officers. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ATTENDANCE OFFICER'S WORK 

Good attendance is essential to successful work in school. If the 
schools are to educate a child we must see not only that he is en- 
rolled but also that he attends school regularly. Experience has 
shown that the child who is present during only a part of the term 
is frequently not promoted at the close of the school term. The cost 
of re-educating these children who have already been over the work 
is a very large item of expense to the school district and the cost in 
the loss of many years of time to the children involved can not be 
reckoned. Improved attendance would prevent much of this loss 
both to the district and to the children. 

If, then, attendance is of such vital importance it is essential that, 
in so far as possible, we prevent absence. We must consider not only 
unlawful absence but all absence. From the standpoint of the loss of 
educational opportunity to the child, it probably makes little differ- 
ence what the cause of the absence may be. 

Presumably, if an absence is unlawful it is unnecessary, but the 
fact that an absence is excused does not mean that it is necessary or 
that it might not have been prevented. Absence is an effect not a 
cause, therefore, all absences should be investigated to determine the 
cause. An investigation may bring to light causes which may be 
corrected, and thus prevent future absences. Since actual violations 
of the law constitute but a small proportion of the total sessions of 
absence, the actual enforcement of the law should be but a small part 
of the duty of the school with respect to attendance. 

The School Code designates as an attendance officer the person who 
in many school districts is the only person who investigates absences. 
This person is really the point of contact between the home and the 
school and is often the only point of contact. Since he is to go as a 
representative of the schools to the homes of the tax payers who 
support the schools, he should go not as a militant representative 
of the law' but rather as an embassador to establish the best possible 
relations of cooperation and helpfulness between the school and the 
home. 

Many parents are not acquainted with the modern educational 
system and the advantages which the school has to offer to their 
children. The attendance officer should have a comprehensive knowl- 
edge of the school and what it is trying to do so that he may carry 



12 

to the home, when necessar}^ the story of the advantages of educa- 
tion in general, and be able to explain in particular the opportunities 
offered by the local school system. 

It is equally important that the teacher be informed of conditions 
existing in the home. Often this knowledge will bring about a more 
sympathetic and helpful attitude on the part of the teacher. Some 
teachers do not take advantage of the opportunity to visit the home. 
In such instances it falls to the lot of the attendance officer to bring 
to them the information in regard to home conditions. 

Nearly every case investigated will present its special problem 
which must be analyzed to determine the cause. The ability to diag- 
nose a situation is of fundamental importance in work of this nature. 
Having determined the cause for the existing situation the remedy 
must be applied. The nature of the remedy varies as much as the 
nature of the cause. Some of these are suggested in the duties of the 
attendance officer as enumerated below. 

There are in general two aspects to attendance work: — 

1. The preventive measures that help to keep children well ad- 
justed in their school work. These include providing the child 
with a well trained and competent teacher, the use of modern, 
well written text books, a course of study adjusted to modern 
needs and flexible enough to make provision for individual 
differences in pupils, a study of the individual child to de- 
termine his needs and make adjustments to satisfy these 
needs. This phase of the work belongs largely to the superin- 
tendent, the principal and the teacher but requires the coopera- 
tion of the attendance officer to make it most effective. 

2. The corrective measures that remedy more or less perman- 
ently conditions deterrent to the child's normal development 
and to his regular attendance at school. These will- be largely 
the problem of the attendance officer. 

The "routine work" of the attendance officer consists in taking the 
school census, and seeing that all children of compulsory attendance 
age are enrolled in a public, private, or parochial school ; in follow- 
ing up transfers ; in v^erifying the enrollment or dismissal of children 
going from one school to another, or passing through Juvenile Court, 
and also children admitted and discharged by public and private 
child placing agencies ; also, in taking preliminary steps towards 
enforcing the Compulsory Attendance Law and the Child Labor Law, 
and reporting cases requiring law enforcement to the proper person. 

There is however an additional and more technical type of work 
required. Only a very small percent of absences are due to deliberate 
violations of the law, and are readily disposed of. In this connection 
the suggestion is pertinent that a threat should not be made unless 
there is every intention to have it carried out promptly. 

The attendance officer's duties, then, will also include: — 

1. Preliminary inquiry into the character and degree of mental 
and physical deficiency with a view to ultimately secure for 
deficient children assignments to special classes or training 



13 

in institutions. The number of children listed as "permanently 
incapacitated" should include only that group that cannot 
profit from any type of education. Exclusion from school 
because of "permanent incapacity" shall be made on the basis of 
the State Regulations specified on Page 5 of this bulletin. 

2. The investigation and treatment of poverty, parental in- 
competency and social and economic difficulties in families any 
one or all of which may contribute toward depriving children 
of educational opportunity. The difficulty frequently lies in 
the fact that the adjustments must be immediate where the 
child's attendance at school is concerned. 

3. Investigations of conditions in homes of children applying 
for Domestic Service permits, or the interviewing of parents 
relative to general employment certificates, or the refusal there- 
of because of the child's physical condition. 

4. Investigation of absences that are due to alleged legal excuses, 
but are scattered absences, and have been accumulated by a 
child who is not interested in school. It requires skill to find 
the real cause of this condition. Sometimes excuses do not 
reflect the real reasons foi* irregular attendance. The child's 
physical condition, his inability to succeed in tasks assigned 
him in school, or lack of interest at home, may be responsible 
for this problem. If the habit of irregular attendance is fairly 
well fixed before it comes to the attendance officer's attention, 
the problem is all the more difficult. 

5. Investigation of all cases of illness causing irregular attend- 
ance or continued absence from school. The largest portion 
of absences are due to illness and need to be a matter of as 
much concern as the unexcused absences, particularly, if the 
parents are unable to secure the services of a physician. Due 
caution must be exercised, of course, not to require a child's 
attendance at school when he is not in physical condition to 
do so. The cooperation of a school nurse or family physician 
will be necessary in some of these cases. 

6. Securing regular attendance on the part of pupils of non- 
compulsory attendance age. This is important from the stand- 
point of worth-while habit formation, and conformity with a 
group requirement, as well as from the standpoint of the 
pupil's progress. 

7. The investigation and treatment of maladjustments of chil- 
dren including the truants, and the use of agencies that might 
help in dealing with such problem children. This sometimes 
requires a careful analysis of home and neighborhood situa- 
tions, with a solution arrived at cooperatively with parents, 
teachers, principals and superintendents. 

In each of the tasks enumerated above the child is the center of 
concern, and of interest. Routine work can be done quickly, and with- 
out much, if any knowledge of the child. But where adjustments are 
needed, one must get a complete picture of the child including his re- 
actions in school, on the playground and at home with brothersi, 
sisters and parents. 

Whenever feasible the carrying out of legal requirements relating 
to unlawful absence should be delegated to some person who does not 



14 

make the home visits. Where there is only one attendance officer 
in a district legal procedure may be instituted, when necessary, by 
the secretary of the school board or some other duly authorized 
public school official. 

DUTIES OF ATTENDANCE OFFICERS 

THE ATTENDANCE OFFICER: 

1. Shall, whenever possible, visit the schools of his district while 
they are in regular session. 

2. Shall report to the medical inspector of the district the names 
and addresses of blind, deaf, dumb, and mentally deficient pupils 
who are not profiting by the instruction of the regular day school. 
(The medical inspector should investigate such cases and report to 
the board of school directors. Section 1413.) 

3. Shall file with the teacher or superintendent duplicate records 
of the visits made to investigate absence. 

4. Shall in third or fourth class school districts use the Attend- 
ance Officer's Book which is furnished by the Child Helping and 
Accounting Bureau, Department of Public Instruction. 

5. Shall have full police power to arrest without a warrant, or 
apprehend any pupil who fails to attend school regularly, or who 
is incorrigible, insubordinate or disorderly during attendance at 
school or on the way to or from school. 

6. Shall notify parents or guardians when he arrests or appre- 
hends any offending child. 

7. Shall have full power to enter any place of business where 
minors between fourteen and sixteen years of age are employed to 
ascertain if there has been full compliance with the law. He may 
demand and inspect any employment certificates. 

8. Shall enforce the provisions of the Child Labor Act. (Section 
3624.) ^ 

COUNTY AND DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENTS 

Each month the county superintendent and district superintendent 
shall forward to the Superintendent of Public Instruction monthly 
attendance reports, for their respective districts, on forms furnished 
by the Department of Public Instruction. 

PENALTIES 

Any school official who wilfully refuses to comply with the pro- 
visions of this act shall be liable to pay a penalty, for the use of( the 
school district, not to exceed |25.00 and costs. In default of pay- 
ment he may be committed to the county jail for a period not to 
exceed thirty days. 

The Superintendent of Public Instruction, upon due hearing, 
after two weeks written notice to the board of school directors af- 
fected, may withhold and declare forfeited any part, or all, of the 
State appropriation of any school district which refuses or neglects 
to comply with and to enforce the provisions of the Compulsory 
Attendance Law in a manner satisfactory to him, 



15 
DUTIES OF MANAGERS OF MOTION PICTURE THEATRES 

MANAGER: 

1. Shall keep posted at or near the entrance of the theatre a 
copy of the act of July 8, 1919, in relation to the admittance of any 
school child during school hours. 

2. Shall admit no child between the ages of eight and sisteen 
years to a motion picture theatre during the compulsory school 
period when the schools are in session, unless the child is accom- 
panied by a parent or other responsible adult, or unless he presents 
a written permit signed by the regular school teacher. 

3. Shall retain for a period of at least six months the permit 
given by a teacher for the admittance of a child to a motion picture 
theatre. (Sections 44014402-4403.) 



PROCEDURE FOR ENFORCING THE COMPULSORY 
ATTENDANCE LAW 

John Doe has been absent from school for three days, or their 
equivalent, during the term of compulsory attendance without legal 
excuse. His teacher reports at once John's absence to the attend- 
ance officer, superintendent of schools, supervising principal, or 
secretary of the school board. That official immediately notifies in 
writing John's parents, or other person acting in place of a parent, 
of John's absence, *If John fails to appear at school within three 
days from the time the notice is served, unless a lawful excuse is 
presented, the attendance officer, or other person above mentioned 
goes, in the name of the school district, to a magistrate or justice of 
the peace and makes information against the parent or guardian 
upon the proper form. The magistrate or justice of the peace issues 
a warrant for the arrest of John's parent or guardian for non-com- 
pliance with the Compulsory Attendance Law. The warrant must 
be served by a constable, sheriff, local or State police officer. John's 
parent or guardian must then appear before the magistrate. If the 
evidence shows violation of the Compulsory Attendance Act, John's 
parents shall be sentenced to pay a fine not exceeding two dollars 
and costs. If elohn is unlawfully absent again for a single session 
prosecution may he instituted without a second trritten notice. For 
the second conviction or succeeding convictions, John's parents may 
be fined five dollars and costs. In default of payment of fine for 
any conviction the parent may be sentenced to the county jail for 
a period of time not to exceed five days. 

*If John returns to school before the expiration of the three days following the 
serving of the notice required by law and is then unlawfully absent a single session 
his parents are subject to arrest forthwith without further notice. 

See pages 35, 39 for attendance forms, 

TUITION 

The tuition of pupils who attend school in another district shall 
be paid for the entire term the schools are open in the non-resident 
district under the following conditions: 



16 

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 

1. When a pupil resides one and one-half miles or more from 
the nearest school in his home district and free transportation thereto 
is not furnished, and the pupil attends a nearer and more convenient 
school in another district provided the consent of the school board 
of the other district has first been obtained. (Note — The term "more 
convenient" has been decided by the court to mean "general", not 
"individual" convenience. It has reference to convenience of access.) 

2. When a non-resident pupil is assigned by the court or an 
institution to live with some person. (Said child shall attend school 
in the district in which said person resides and the Commonwealth 
shall pay the tuition under certain conditions.) (Section 1402.) 

HIGH SCHOOLS 

1. When the home district maintains no high school. 

2. When a pupil resides three or more miles from a high s-chool 
in his district and transportation to the same has not been provided. 
(Sections 1707-1709.) 

Before a district is liable for the tuition in the above men- 
tioned cases a pupil who desires to enter a high school in another 
district must enter the nearest or most convenient high school of the 
class that he may wish to attend and he shall present to the board 
of school directors of that district evidence from the county or dis- 
trict superintendent of his district that he has successfully com- 
pleted the elementary course of study and the admission of the pupil 
entering a high school in another district must be regularly recorded 
by the board of school directors in that district. 

In accordance with the provisions of Section 1707 of the School 
Code there are eight classes of High Schools, viz : 

The approved four-year Standard High School 
The approved three-year Standard High School 
The approved two-year Standard High School 
The approved Junior Standard High School 
The approved Junior-Senior Standard High School 
The approved four-year Vocational School 
The approved three-year Vocational School 
The approved two-year Vocational School 

When the ^\'^ord class is used in designating the high school a pupil 
may attend outside the district of residence, it has reference to the 
above classification of High Schools. 

3. When a pupil, who resides in a district maintaining a recog- 
nized high school has completed in said high school the two year 
course if it be an approved two year high school or the three year 
course if it be an approved three year high school and desires to 
complete his high school course in another district which maintains 
a high school of higher grade. 

4. When a pupil is desirous of having his tuition paid in a high 
school in another district, on account of having completed in a 
school or schools in another district the equivalent of a course in 
his own district. Such a pupil must present to the 'board of his own 
district, and the hoard of the district in which he wishes to attend, 



17 

a certificate from the Superintendent who has jurisdiction over the 
district in which he lives, that he has satisfactorily completed the 
equivalent of said course. 

VOCATIONAL OR INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS 

1. When a pupil 14 years of age or over desires to attend a 
vocational or industrial school or department located in another 
district, provided such a school or department is not maintained 
in his home district. (The board of school directors shall, under 
certain conditions, establish and maintain vocational or industrial 
schools or departments. (Sections 3407-3408.) 

ORPHANAGES 

1. When pupils who are inmates of any orphan asylum, home for 
the friendless, children's home, or other institution for the care or 
training of orphans or other children attend a public school under 
certain conditions. (Section 1412). 

TRANSPORTATION 

1. Free transportation to another school shall be provided if 
the school to which a pupil would have been assigned has been closed 
since 1911 and the nearest accessible school is one and one-half 
miles or more from his residence. 

2. All distances involving transportation or school attendance 
shall be computed by the shortest route along the public highway. 
Measurements shall be taken from the point where the regularly 
traveled private path or way from the home of the child meets the 
public highway; thence to the nearest point wiiere the highway 
touches the schoolgrounds. Distances may not be computed across 
private property. 

3. A child may be required to travel one and one-half miles 
along the public highway to meet a school conveyance provided 
proper shelter is furnished at the meeting place. 

4. Electric railways, public or school conveyances may be used 
for transportation of pupils. 

MENTAL OR PHYSICAL UNFITNESS 

Section 1415 of the School Code reads as follows: 

(a) The board of school directors of any schoel district in 
this Commonwealth may, upon satisfactory evidence being 
furnished to it, showing that any child or children are pre- 
vented from attending school, or from application to study, 
on account of any mental, physical, or other urgent reasons, 
excuse such child or children from attending school as re- 
quired by the provisions of this act, but the term "urgent 
reasons" shall be strictly construed and shall not permit of 
irregular attendance. 

(b) Every principal or teacher in any public, private, or 
other school may, for reasons enumerated above, excuse any 
child for non-attendance during temporary periods. 



18 . 

If a pupil is to be excused permanently under the "physically or 
mentally unfit" clause that must be done by formal action of the 
school board upon the certificate of the medical examiner for the 
school district or upon the certificate of the County medical ex- 
aminer or a physician authorized by him to examine a child. 

SECTIONS OF THE SCHOOL LAW GOVERNING 
ATTENDANCE 

PUPILS AND ATTENDANCE 

School Attendance. Every child, being a resident of any school 
district in this Commonwealth, betAveen the ages of six and twenty- 
one years, may attend the public schools in his district, subject to the 
provisions of this act. (Section 1401.) 

Residence of Child. A child shall be considered a resident of the 
school district in which his parents or the guardian of his person 
resides. When a resident of any school district keeps in his home a 
child of school age, not his own, supporting the child gratis as if it 
were his own, such child shall be entitled to all free school privileges 
accorded to resident school children of the district, including the 
right to attend the public high school maintained in such district or 
in other districts in the same manner as though such child were in 
fact a resident school child of the district, and slmll be subject to all 
the requirements placed upon resident school children of the district: 
Provided, That before accepting such child as a pupil, the board of 
school directors of the district may require such resident to file with 
the secretary of the board a SAvorn statement that he is a resident of 
the district, that he is supporting the child gratis, that he will assume 
all personal obligations for the child relative to school requirements, 
and that he intends to so keep and support the child continuously 
and not merely through the school term. 

When a non-resident child is placed in the home of a resident of 
any school district by order of court or by arrangement with an 
association, agency, or institution having the care of neglected and 
dependent children, such resident being compensated for keeping the 
child, any child of school age so placed shall be entitled to all free 
school privileges accorded to resident school children of the district 
including the right to attend the public high school maintained in 
such district or in other districts in the same manner as though such 
child Avere in fact a resident school child of the district; and the 
State shall reimburse the district for the education of such child to 
an amount not exceeding the actual average cost of tuition, textbooks, 
and supplies for the district's children of similar grade; or for 
other pupils pursuing similar studies for the same length of time; 
such reimbursement to be made out of the money appropriated by 
the General Assembly for the maintenance and support of the public 
schools of this Commonwealth: Provided, That the school district 
may not be required to accept such children in its schools when their 
acceptance would invoh^e additional provision for transportation by 
the district, or would require the district to provide additional 
teachers or rooms, at an expense greater than the amount of reim- 
bursement paid to the district by the State. 

Any resident of any school district, before accepting custody of a 
non-resident child of school age for compensation by order of court 



19 

or by arrangement with an association, agency, or institution having 
the care of dependent or neglected children, must secure, from the 
superintendent of schools, supervising principal, or school board In 
that district, a statement in writing that the child can be accom- 
modated in the schools of the district or that the child can not be 
so accommodated and the reasons therefor. If such statements be 
not furnished within two weeks after a request in writing has been 
made to the board's secretary, the supervising principal, or the super- 
intendent of schools, the board's assent shall be assumed, and the 
child shall be admitted to the schools of the district as a pupil. If 
such statement sets forth conditions such as to exempt the district 
under this section from accepting the child as a pupil, and if such 
exemption be not disapproved on appeal by the Superintendent of 
Public Instruction, and if other arrangement for the child's school- 
ing satisfactory to the county or district superintendent be not made, 
the child may not be placed in the district. 

Appeal from the claim of any school district for exemption as pro- 
vided in this section may be taken to the Superintendent of Public 
Instruction, and his decision thereon after investigation shall be 
final. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith are hereby 
repealed. (Section 1402. Amended May 20, 1921, P. L. 1032; April 
30, 1925, P. L. 378, Sec. 1.) 

Beginners Defined. The term beginners, as used in this section 
shall mean any child that could enter the lowest grade of the primary 
school or the lowest primary class. (Section 1403.) 

Admission of Beginners. Unless otherwise directed by the board 
of school directors, the admission of beginners to the public schools 
shall be confined to two periods, namely, during the first two weeks 
of the annual school term, and during the first two weeks of school 
following the first day of January in any school year: Provided, That 
beginners becoming six years of age after the beginning of the school 
term, and before the first day of January of any year, shall be ad- 
mitted during the period at the beginning of the school term, and 
beginners becoming six years of age between the first day of January 
and the close of the term shall be admitted during the period following 
the first day of January. Provided further, That the board of school 
directors in any school district may fix such other periods for the 
admission of such beginners as it may determine. (Section 1403.) 

Attendance in Another District. Where any pupil in any 
school district in this Commonwealth resides one and one-half miles, 
or more, by the public road, from the nearest public elementary 
school in the district, such pupil, unless proper free transportation 
be furnished to a suitable school in the district, on obtaining the 
consent of the board of school directors thereof, may attend any 
public elementary school in another school district more convenient 
of access, without the consent of the board of school directors of the 
district where such pupil resides; and the district where such pupil 
resides shall promptly pay, to the district where such pupil attends, 
the cost of his tuition, text-books, and school supplies only, which 
shall not exceed that of the tuition, text-books, and school supplies 
of other pupils pursuing similar courses or studies in the same 
schools. 

The board of school directors of any district in this Commonwealth 
may, on account of convenience of access, or other reasons, permit 



20 

any pupils to attend the schools of another district on such terms as 
the two boards of school directors may mutually agree upon. 

The board of school directors in any school district in this Com- 
monwealth may, out of the funds of the district, provide for the 
free transportation of any pupil to and from the public schools. 
(Section 1404.) 

Districts May Be Sub-Divided. The board of school directors of 
every school disti'ict in this Commonwealth shall, for the purpose of 
designating the schools to be attended by the several pupils in said 
district, sub-divide the same in such manner that all the pupils in each 
school district shall be assigned to, and reasonably accommodated in, 
one of the public schools in said school district: Provided, That the 
board of school directors may, upon cause shown, permit any pupil or 
pupils in any school district to attend such other school in said 
district as the board may deem proper, or may classify and assign 
the pupils in the district to any such school or schools therein as> it 
may deem best, in order to properly educate the same: Provided 
further, That whenever any child or children of compulsory school 
age have their residence more than two miles by the nearest public 
highway from the school to which they have been assigned within the 
district and free transportation for such child or children to a school 
within the district is not provided, and there is a school in session in 
some other district in the Commonwealth within two miles by the 
nearest public highway of the residence of such child or children, the 
board of school directors shall re-assign such child or children to this 
school in another district, unless the consent of the board of directors 
of said district is refused, and shall pay to said district the cost of 
tuition, text-books, and supplies of such child or children, and this 
provision shall include also in like manner assignment to high schools 
in the case of pupils under sixteen years of age who are qualified to 
be enrolled in such high schools: Provided further. That hereafter 
it shall be unlawful for any school director, superintendent, or teacher 
to make any distinction whatever, on account of, or by reason of, 
the race or color of any pupil or scholar who may be in attendance 
upon, or seeking admission to, any public school maintained wholly 
or in part under the school laws of the Commonwealth. (Section 
1405. Amended May 13, 1925, P. L. 628.) 

Method for Computation of Distances. Where, by the term of 
this act or any other act any distance is specified between the resi- 
dence of any pupil and any public school to be attended by him, or 
any transportation is provided for within or beyond any particular 
distance, in computing such distance no allowance shall be made for 
the distance that the dwelling house of the pupil is situated off the 
public highway. All such distances shall be computed by the public 
highway from the nearest point where a private way or private road 
connects the dwelling house of the pupil with said highway to the 
nearest point where said highway touches the school grounds of the 
school to which pupil has been assigned. 

Transportation May Be By School or Private Conveyance or 
Common Carriers. Provided, That the free transportation of pupils, 
as required or authorized by this act or any other act, may be fur- 
nished by using either school conveyances, private conveyances, or 
electric railways, or other common carriers, when the total distance 



21 

which any pupil must travel by the public highway to or from school, 
in addition to such transportation, does not exceed one and one-half 
miles, and when stations or other proper shelters are provided for the 
use of such pupils where needed. (Section 1408. Amended May 13, 
1925, P. L. 328, Sec. 4.) 

Non-Resident Pupils. The board of school directors of any 
school district in this Commonwealth may permit any non-resident 
pupil to attend the public schools in its district, upon such terms as 
it may determine, subject to the provisions of this act. (Section 
1409.) 

Teachers To Have Parental Authority. Every teacher in the 
public schools in this CommouAvealth shall have the right to exercise 
the same authority as to conduct and behavior over the pupils attend- 
ing his school, during the time they are in attendance, including the 
time required in going to and from their homes, as the parent's, 
guardians, or persons in parental relation to such pupils may ex- 
ercise over them. (Section 1410.) 

Suspension of Pupils. Every principal or teacher in charge of 
a public school in this Commonwealth may temporarily suspend 
au}'^ pupil on account of disobedience or misconduct, and any prin- 
cipal or teacher suspending any pupil shall promptly notify the dis- 
trict superintendent, supervising i)rincipal, or secretary of the board 
of school directors; and the board may, after a proper hearing, sus- 
pend such child for such time as it may determine, or may perma- 
nently expel him : Provided, That such hearing, suspension, or ex- 
pulsion may be delegated to a duly authorized committee of the 
board. (Section 1411.) 

Inmates of Orphan Asylums, Children's Homes and Other 
Institutions. The board of school directors of any school district 
in this Commonwealth in which there is located any orphan asylum, 
home for the friendless, children's home, or other institution for the 
care or training of orphans or other children, shall permit any chil- 
dren, who are inmates of such homes, but not legal residents 
in such district, to attend the public schools in said district, 
either with or without charge for tuition, text-books, or school 
supplies, as the directors of the district in which such institu- 
tion is located may determine. If a charge is made by any school 
district for tuition for the inmates of any such institution, the 
officers of the institution shall submit to the board of school directors 
a sworn statement, setting forth the names, ages, and school district 
liable for tuition of all children who are inmates thereof and desire 
to attend public school in the district, together with a blank ac- 
knowledging or disclaiming residence, signed by the secretary of the 
school district in which the institution declares the legal residence 
of the child to be. If said district shall fail to file said blank, with 
said institution within fifteen days from the date it is sent to the 
district by the institution by registered mail, the institution shall 
again notify said district of its failure to comply with the provisions 
of this act, and if the district shall fail to comply within fifteen days 
following this second notice, said failures to return the blank shall 
be construed as an acknowledgment of said child's residence. If any 
of said inmates have been received from outside of Pennsylvania, or 
if the institution cannot certify as to their residence, their tuition 

J— 3 



22 

shall be paid by the institution having the care or custody of said 
children. The tuition of such other inmates as are included in the 
sworn statement to the board of school directors shall be withheld by 
the Superintendent of Public Instruction from any moneys due to 
the district liable for said tuition upon receipt of a sworn statement 
setting forth the names, ages, tuition charges, and school district 
liable for tuition of said inmates ; and all money thus withheld shall 
be paid by him to the district entitled to receive the same. The 
district so charged with tuition may file an appeal with the Superin- 
tendent of Public Instruction, in which it shall be the complainant, 
and the institution the respondent. The decision of the Superin- 
tendent of Public Instruction as to which of said parties is responsi- 
ble for tuition shall be final. 

The cost of tuition in such cases shall be fixed as is now provided 
by law for tuition costs in other cases, except where, for the accom- 
modation of such children, it shall be necessary to provide a separate 
school or to erect additional school buildings, in which cases the 
charge for tuition for such children may include a proportionate 
cost of the operating expenses, rental, and interest on any investment 
required to be made in erecting such new school buildings. The 
tuition herein provided for shall be paid annually by the Superin- 
tendent of Public Instruction or the institution, as the case may be. 
(Section 1412. Amended May 20, 1921, P. L. 987; May 1, 1925, P. L. 
438, Sec. 1.) 

Handicapped Children. It shall be the duty of the secretary of 
the school board, teachers, school enumerators, and attendance 
officers, in every school district in this Commonwealth, in accordance 
with rules of procedure prescribed by the Superintendent of Public 
Instruction, to secure information and report to the medical in- 
spector of the school district and to the district or county superin- 
tendent of schools, on or before the fifteenth day of October of each 
year, every child within said district, between the ages of eight (8) 
and sixteen (16) years, who is gravely retarded in his or her school 
work, or any child between the ages of six (6) and sixteen (16) who, 
because of apparent exceptional physical or mental condition, is not 
being properly educated and trained, and as soon thereafter as pos- 
sible, the medical inspector shall examine such child, in accordance 
with rules of procedure prescribed by the Secretary of Health, and 
report whether such child is a fit subject for special education and 
training. In school districts of the first, second, and third class, hav- 
ing a district superintendent of schools, said report shall be made to 
the superintendent of the district. In all other districts, the report 
shall be made to the Secretary of Health and by him reported to the 
superintendent of schools of the county. 

Pupils may also be designated as candidates for special education 
by mental clinics approved by the Council of Education, or by a 
psychologist or a psychological examiner who has been certified by 
the Superintendent of Public Instruction and is employed by any 
school district. 

Plans for Special Classes or Schools. The county or district 
superintendent of schools shall submit to the board or boards of 
school directors plans for establishing and maintaining special 
classes in the public schools or special public schools for the proper 



23 

education and training of all such children reported to him as fit 
subjects for special education and training, and it shall be the duty 
of the board of directors of any district having such children to pro- 
vide and maintain, or to jointly provide and maintain with neighbor- 
ing districts, such special classes or schools : Provided, however, That 
if it is not feasible to form a special class with a minimum attend- 
ance of ten children in any district, or if for any other reason it is 
not feasible to provide such education for any such child in the public 
schools of the district, the board of school directors of that district 
shall, unless approved provision for the education of such child is 
made by the parents or guardian, secure such proper education and 
training outside the public schools of the district, or in special insti- 
tutions, or by providing for teaching the child in his home by a 
legally certified teacher, on terms and conditions not inconsistent 
with the terms of this act or of any other act then in force applicable 
to such children. 

Reimbursement of District. School districts maintaining special 
classes in the public schools or special public schools or providing 
special education, as hereinbefore specified in this section, shall 
receive reimbursement, as provided by law, so long as such classes, 
such schools, and such special education are approved by the State 
Council of Education as to location, constitution and size of classes, 
conditions of admission and discharge of pupils, equipment, courses of 
study, methods of instruction, and qualifications of teachers. 

Supervision. The STATE Superintendent of Public Instruction 
shall superintend the organization of such special classes and such 
other arrangements for special education, and shall enforce the 
provisions of this act. 

Report By Secretary of Amount Expended. On or before the 
first day of October of each year, the secretary of the board of 
school directors in each district in which special education for 
physically or mentally handicapped children is provided shall make 
such reports in regard to such special education maintained during 
the previous school year, and that for which the approval of the 
State Council of Education for the current year is desired, as may 
be required by the Department of Public Instruction. When any 
child between the ages of six (6) and twenty-one (21) years of age 
resident in this Commonwealth, who is blind or deaf, is enrolled, 
with the approval of the Department of Public Instruction, as a 
pupil in any of the schools or institutions for the blind or deaf, 
under the supervision of and approval of the Department of Public 
Instruction, the school district in which such child is resident shall 
pay twenty-five per cent (25%) of the cost of tuition and mainte- 
nance of such child in such school or institution, as determined by 
the Department of Public Instruction; and for the tuition and 
maintenance of such children the Commonwealth shall pay, out of 
funds appropriated to the department for special education, seventy- 
five per centum (75%) of the cost of their tuition and maintenance, 
as determined by the department. When any person less than six 
(6) or more than twenty-one (21) years of age resident in this 
Commonwealth, who is blind or deaf, is enrolled with the approval 
of the Department of Public Instruction, as a pupil in any of the 
schools or institutions for the blind or deaf, under the super\dsion 



24 

of and approved by the Department of Public Instruction, the 
Commonwealth shall pay to such school or institution, out of moneys 
appropriated to the department for special education, the cost of 
tuition and maintenance of such person, as determined by the 
Department of Public Instruction. To facilitate payments by the 
several school districts, to the schools or institutions in which 
deaf or blind children are enrolled, of amounts due by such dis- 
tricts for their proportion of the cost of tuition and maintenance of 
such children, the Superintendent of Public Instruction shall with- 
hold, from any moneys due to such districts out of any State appro- 
priation for the assistance as reimbursement of school districts, 
the amounts due by such districts to such schools or institutions 
for the blind or the deaf, and amounts so withheld shall be paid to 
such schools or institutions by warrant of the Auditor General 
upon the State Treasurer, after requisition of the Superintendent 
of Public Instruction, for which purpose all amounts so withheld 
are hereby specifically appropriated to the Department of Public 
Instruction. Payments of the Commonwealth's proportion of the 
cost of tuition and maintenance of blind or deaf pupils enrolled in 
schools or institutions for the blind or for the deaf, as hereinbefore 
provided, shall be made quarterly out of moneys appropriated to 
the Department of Public Instruction for special education, by 
warrant of the Auditor General upon the State Treasurer, after 
requisition by the Superintendent of Public Instruction. For the 
purpose of enabling the Department of Public Instruction to de- 
termine from time to time what amounts are due to schools for the 
blind or for the deaf hereunder, such schools shall forward to the De- 
partment, at such times and in such form as the Department shall 
prescribe, sworn statements setting forth the names, ages, and 
residences of all pupils enrolled hereunder, specifying the school 
districts liable for a part of the cost of tuition and maintenance 
of any such pupils, the per capita cost of and maintenance of 
pupils, and such other information as the department shall require. 
(Section 1413. Amended Julv 22, 1919, P. L. 1090; March 26, 1925, 
P. L. 70, Sec. 1.) 

Attendance at Schools Using English Language. Every 
child having a legal residence in this Commonwealth, as herein 
provided, between the ages of eight and sixteen years, is required 
to attend a day school in which the common English branches pro- 
vided for in this act are taught in the English language; and every 
parent, guardian, or other person, in this Commonwealth, having 
control or charge of any child or children, between the ages of 
eight and sixteen years, is required to send such child or children 
to a day school in which the common English branches are taught 
in the English language; and such child or children shall attend 
such school continuously through the entire term, during which the 
public elementary schools in their respective districts shall be in 
session : Provided, That the certificate of any principal or teacher 
of a private school, or of any institution for the education of 
children, in which the common English branches are taught in the 
English language, setting forth that the work of said school is in 
compliance with the provision of this act, shall be sufficient and 
satisfactory evidence thereof. Regular daily instruction in the 
English language, for the time herein required, by a properly qualified 



25 

private tutor, shall be considered as complying with the provisions 
of this section, if such instruction is satisfactory to the proper 
county or district superintendent of schools. (Amended April 18, 
1919, P. L. 58.) 

Education of Children Who Are Deaf, Blind, or Crippled. 
Every parent, guardian, or other person in this Commonwealth hav- 
ing control or charge of any child between the ages of six and 
sixteen years who is deaf or blind, or is so cripj)led, or whose hear- 
ing or vision is so defective as to make it impracticable to have such 
child educated in the public schools of the district in which he is a 
resident, shall allow such child to be sent to some school where 
proper provision is made for the education of the deaf, or of the blind, 
or of crippled children, or shall provide for the tuition of such 
child by a legally certified tutor. (Further amended March 26, 
1925, P. L. 76, Sec. 1.) 

Keduction of the Period of Compulsory Attendance. Pro- 
vided further. That the board of school directors in any district of 
the fourth class may, at a meeting held at any time before the 
opening of the school term, reduce the period of compulsory .attend- 
ance for pupils fourteen years of age or more to not less than seventy 
per centum of the school term as fixed in such district, in which case, 
however, the board of school directors must, at the same time, fix the 
period for the compulsory attendance to begin. (Section 1414. 
Amended July 21, 1919, P. L. 1084; April 4, 1925, P. L. 131, Sec. 1.) 

Exceptions to Compulsory Attendance. The board of school 
directors of any school district in this Commonwealth may, upon 
satisfactory evidence being furnished to it, showing that any child 
or children are prevented from attending school, or from applica- 
tion to stud}^, on account of any mental, physical, or other urgent 
reasons, excuse such child or children from attending school as 
required by the provisions of this act, but the term "urgent 
reasons" shall be strictly construed and shall not permit of irregular 
attendance. Every principal or teacher in any public, private, or 
other school may, for reasons enumerated above, excuse any child 
for non-attendance during temporai-y periods. (Section 1415.) 

Not Applicable to Children Who Have Employment Certifi- 
cates. The provisions of this act requiring regular attendance 
shall not apply to any child, between the ages of fourteen and six- 
teen years, who has completed a course of study equivalent to six 
yearly grades of the public school, and is regularly engaged in any 
useful and lawful employment or service during the time the 
public schools are in session, and who holds an employment certifi- 
cate issued according to law; nor shall the said provisions apply 
to any child, between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years, engaged 
in farm work or domestic service in a private home on a permit 
issued by the school board or the designated school official of the 
school district of the child's residence, in accordance with regulations 
which the Superintendent of Public Instruction is hereby authorized 
to prescribe. (Section 1416. Amended May 20, 1921, P. L. 1034, 
Sec. 1.) 

Teachers to Make Report of Children Admitted to Other 
Than Public Schools. Every principal or teacher in every other 
than a public school, and in every institution for children, and 



^6 

every private teacher in every school district in this Commonwealth, 
shall, immediately after their admission to such school or institu- 
tion, or at the beginning of such private teaching, furnish to the 
district superintendents, supervising principals, or secretaries of 
the boards of school directors of the districts wherein the parents 
or guardians of such children reside, lists of the names and resi- 
dences of all children betAveen eight and sixteen years of age enrolled 
in such school or institution, or taught by such private teacher; 
and shall further report at once to such district superintendent, 
supervising principal, or secretary of the board of school directors, 
the name and date of withdrawal of any such pupil withdrawing 
from any such school or institution, or from such private instruction^ 
if such withdrawal occurs during the period of compulsory attend- 
ance in said district. And every principal or teacher in a school 
other than a public school, and every private teacher, shall also 
report at once to the superintendent, supervising principal, or secre- 
tary of the board of school directors of the district, any such child 
who has been absent three days, or their equivalent, during the term 
of compulsory attendance, without lawful excuse. (Section 1417.) 

Exemption. In case there is no public school in session within 
two miles by the nearest public highway of the residence of any 
child, such child shall be exempt from the provisions of this act 
relating to compulsory attendance, unless proper free transportation 
be furnished to such child to and from school: Provided, If proper 
free transportation is furnished to any child under sixteen years 
of age to and from school the Commonwealth shall reimburse any 
school district of the fourth class furnishing such transportation 
in the same manner and amounts as provided for in this act for 
transportation of pupils from closed schools. (Section 1418. 
Amended May 13, 192.5, P. L. 628, Sec. 5; March 29, 1927, P. L. 75.) 

Failure of Parents to Observe Attendance Law. Every 
parent, guardian, or person in parental relation in this Common- 
wealth, having control or charge of any child or children, between 
the ages of eight and sixteen years, who shall fail to comply with the 
provisions of this act regarding compulsory attendance, shall be 
guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof before any alder- 
man, magistrate, or justice of the peace shall be sentenced to pay 
a fine, for the benefit of the school district in which such offending 
person resides, not exceeding two dollars (|2.00) for the first offense, 
and not exceeding five dollars ($5.00) for each succeeding offense, 
together with costs, and, in default of the payment of such fine and 
costs by the person so offending, shall be sentenced to the county 
jail for a period not exceeding five days: Provided, That any person 
sentenced to pay any such fine may, at any time within five days 
thereafter appeal to the court of quarter sessions of the proper 
county, upon entering into a recognizance, with one or more proper 
sureties, in double the amount of penalty and costs: And provided. 
That before any proceedings are instituted against any parent, 
guardian, or person in parental relation, for failure to comply 
with the provisions of this act, such offending person shall have 
three days' wintten notice given him by the superintendent of public 
schools, supervising principal, attendance officer, or secretary of 
the board of school directors of such violation, and if, after such 



27 

notice has been given, the provisions of this act regarding com- 
pulsory attendance are again violated by the person so notified, at 
any time during the terra of compulsory attendance, such person 
so again offending, shall be liable under the provisions of this act 
without further notice. (Section 1423. The remainder of the sec- 
tion is obsolete.) • 

Duties of School Officers. Whenever the board of school 
directors, or the attendance officer, superintendent, supervising 
principal, or secretary of any board of school directors, in this Com- 
monwealth, ascertains that any child between eight and sixteen 
years of age, who is by the provisions of this act required to attend 
the public schools in the district over which such board of school 
directors has control, is unable to do so, on account of lack of neces- 
sary clothing or food, such case shall be promptly reported to any 
suitable relief agency operating in the school district, or, if there be 
no such suitable relief agency to which the case can be referred, it 
shall be reported to the proper directors or overseers of the poor for 
investigation and relief. (Section 1424.) 

ENUMERATION OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 

Enumeration of Children Between Six and Sixteen Years. 
The board of school directors in every school district in this Common- 
wealth shall, between April first and September first of each year, 
cause to be made by the attendance officers, teachers or other per- 
sons employed for this purpose, a careful, correct, and accurate 
enumeration, in a substantial book or books provided by the Super- 
intendent of Public Instruction at the expense of the State for that 
purpose, of all the children between the ages of six and sixteen years 
within their district, giving the full name, date of birth, age, sex, 
nationality, place of residence in such school district, name and ad- 
dress of parent or persons in parental relation, the name and loca- 
tion of the school where the child is enrolled or belongs, and the name 
and address of the employer of any child under sixteen years of age 
who is engaged in any regular employment or service. Such enumera- 
tion shall be made by careful inquiry at the residence of each family 
in the district, and the person making the same, upon completion 
thereof, shall make a proper oath or affirmation as to its correctness. 
Such enumeration shall also include the names and addresses of all 
persons, firms, or corporations employing or accepting services from 
children under sixteen (16) years of age. 

Hindrance of Officer, Teacher, Etc. If any person shall 
hinder or prevent, or attempt to hinder or prevent, any attend- 
ance officer or teacher, or other person from performing any duty 
provided for in this section, shall, on conviction thereof before any 
alderman or justice of the peace of the county, be sentenced to pay a 
fine not exceeding five dollars or to undergo an imprisonment not 
exceeding five days. (Section 1425. Amended May 3, 1915, P. L. 238.) 

Secretary to Furnish List of Names of Children. The secre- 
tary of each board of school directors, or such other person as is 
directed by the board, shall, at or before the opening of the school 
term, furnish to the principal or teacher of each school a correct 
list of names and residences of all children, assigned to such school, 
who are subject to the provisions of this act. The said secretary or 



28 

other person shall also forward, on or before the first day of October 
of each year, to the county or district superintendent, to be by him 
forwarded, on or before the first day of November of each year, to the 
Superintendent of Public Instruction, a summary of such statistics 
regarding the children in each district, as is required by the Superin- 
tendent of Public Instruction, on blanks provided by him for that 
purpose. (Section 1426.) 

Cost of Enumeration. The cost and expense of making a proper 
enumeration of the children of each school district, as herein pro- 
vided, shall be paid per diem, or by the name, or in such other man- 
ner as the board of school directors may see proper, out of the 
funds of the district: Provided, That the attendance officer, the 
superintendent of schools, supervising principal, or the secretary of 
the board of school directors, shall have the power to add to this 
enumeration the names of any children whose names do not appear 
thereon, together with other information required by this act. (Sec- 
tion 1427.) 

Children Listed Failing to Appear. It shall be the duty of 
every principal or teacher of a public school to report immediately 
to the attendance officer, superintendent of schools, supervising 
principal, or secretary of the board of school directors, the names 
of all children in the list furnished to him who have not appeared 
for enrollment, and he shall also promptly report, from time to 
time, to the attendance officer, superintendent of schools, supervis- 
ing principal, or secretary of the board of school directors, the 
names of all children wlio have been absent three days, or their equiv- 
alent, during the term of compulsory attendance, without lawful 
excuse. Such person shall thereupon serce upon the parent, guardian, 
or other person in parental relation to such children, the Avritten 
notice hereinbefore provided, and if it shall appear that, within three 
days thereafter, any child, parent, guardian, or other person in 
parental relation shall have failed to comply with the provisions of 
this act, the superintendent, supervising principal, attendance officer, 
or secretary of the board of school directors, in the name of the 
school district, shall proceed against the person so ofl'ending, in ac- 
cordance with the provisions of this act. (Section 1428.) 

Costs of Proceedings. If at any time after proceedings have 
been instituted against any person under the provisions of this act, 
sufficient cause be shown by such offending person for non-compliance 
with its requirements, or if the cost of such proceedings cannot 
be collected from such offending person, such costs may be paid out 
of the district funds, upon a proper voucher approved by the board 
of school directors. (Section 1429.) 

Wilful Refusal or Neglect to Comply With This Act, Sub- 
ject TO Penalty. Any district superintendent, supervising princi- 
pal, secretary of the board of school directors, attendance officer, or 
teacher of any public or private school, or any private teacher, or 
any principal or teacher in any institution for children, who wilfully 
refuses or neglects to comply with the provisions of this act, shall be 
liable for and pay a penalty, for the use of the school district, not 
exceeding twenty-five dollars (|25.00) and costs, and, in default of 
payment thereof, may be committed to the county jail for a period 
not exceeding thirty days. Such penalty may be recovered by, and 



29 

in the name of, any school district, as like penalties are now col- 
lected by law: Provided, That any such superintendent, supervising 
principal, secretary, attendance officer, or teacher, upon whom a fine 
is imposed, may, at any time within five days thereafter, appeal to the 
court of quarter sessions in the proper county, on furnishing proper 
bail, with one surety, in double the amount of such penalty and costs. 
(Section 1430.) 

Appropriation Forfeited In Certain Cases. The Superintend- 
ent of Public Instruction, upon due hearing, after two weeks written 
notice to the board of school directors affected, may withhold and 
declare forfeited any part, or all, of the State appropriation of any 
school district which refuses or neglects to comply with and to 
enforce the provisions of this article in a manner satisfactory to 
him. (Section 1431. Amended May 20, 1921, P. L. 1034, Sec. 2.) 

ATTENDANCE OFFICERS 

Attendance Officers. The board of school directors of every 
school district in this Commonwealth of the first, second or third 
class, shall, and in any school district of the fourth class may, 
employ one or more persons to be known as attendance officers, whose 
duties shall be to enforce the provisions of this act regarding com- 
pulsory attendance. Such attendance officers shall, in addition to 
the duties imposed upon them by the provisions of this act, have full 
police power without warrant, and may arrest or apprehend any 
child who fails to attend school in compliance with the provisions 
of this act, or who is incorrigible, insubordinate, or disorderly during 
attendance at school or on his Avay to or from school. (Section 
1432.)* 

To NoTi^FY Parents. When an attendance officer arrests or ap- 
prehends any child who fails to attend school as required by the 
provisions of this act, he shall promptly notify the parents, guardian, 
or person in parental relation to such child, if such person can be 
found in the district, and unless requested by such parent, guardian, 
or person in parental relation to place said child in a school other 
than public school, he shall place said child in the public school in 
which the child is, or should be, enrolled. (Section 1433.) 

Powder and Authority. Such attendance officer shall have full 
power and authority to enter, during business hours, any place 
where any children are employed, to ascertain whether or not any 
child is engaged therein that should attend school as herein provided, 
and such attendance officer shall have the right to demand and in- 
spect the employment certificate of any child engaged therein. (Sec- 
tion 1434.) 

Employer Interfering With Attendance Officer. Any officer, 
director, superintendent, manager, employe, or other person, at any 
place where any child between fourteen and sixteen years of age is 
engaged, who refuses to permit or in any way interferes with, the 
entrance therein of the attendance officer, any member of the board 
of school directors, the secretary thereof, the district superintendent, 
or supervising principal of any school district, as provided for in 
this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof 
before any magistrate, alderman, or justice of the peace shall be 
sentenced to pay a fine of not less than five dollars (|.5.00) or more 



30 

than twenty-five dollars (5?25.00), in default of which he may be 
sentenced to imprisonment not exceeding thirty days: Provided, 
That any person sentenced to pay any such fine may, upon giving 
proper surety in double the amount of penalty and costs, at any 
time within five days thereafter, appeal to the court of quarter ses- 
sions of the proper county. (Section 1435.) 

Compensation. Such attendance officers may he employed for the 
full calendar year, and shall be paid such amounts and in such 
manner as the board of school directors appointing them may decide, 
and they shall at all times perform the duties of their appointment 
under the direction of the board of school directors appointing them : 
Provided, That in districts of the first class the compensation shall 
not be less than twelve hundred dollars (.$1,200) per annum. Every 
school district shall report to the Superintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion upon the enforcement of the provisions for compulsory attend- 
ance and the cost thereof, in such detail as said Superintendent of 
Public Instruction shall request. (Amended July 17, 1919, P. L. 
1025 and May 24, 1921, P. L. 1087, Section 1436.) 

Districts May Join. Any two or more school districts may 
join in the appointment of an attendance officer on such terms as 
they may mutually agree upon. (Section 1437.) 

Incorrigible Child. In case any child between eight and sixteen 
years of age cannot be kept in school in compliance Avith the pro- 
visions of this act, on account of incorrigibility, truancy, insubor- 
dination, or other bad conduct, or if the presence of any such child 
attending school is detrimental to the welfare of such school, on ac- 
count of incorrigibility, truancy, insubordination, or other bad con- 
duct, then, in any such case, the board of school directors of the 
proper district may, by its superintendent, supervising principal, sec- 
retary, or attendance officer, under such rules and regulations as 
said i3oard may adopt, proceed against said child before the juvenile 
court, or otherwise, as is now or may hereafter be provided by law for 
incorrigible, truant, insubordinate, or delinquent children. (Sec- 
tion 1438.) 

Education of Certain Blind Children. The State Board of 
Education is authorized to educate blind children residing in this 
Commonwealth, under the age of eight years, whenever, from any 
cause, the parent or parents thereof may be unable to properljf 
educate them. ' With the written consent of the proper parents, 
parent, or nearest relative, if there be no parents, or the poor 
authorities of the proper poor district, if there be neither parents 
nor relatives, the board mav contract with any non-sectarian institu- 
tion in this State, or elsewhere, established for the education of the 
blind, whereby any such child may. at a cost not exceeding one dollar 
and fifty cents per day — to be paid out of the State school fund — 
be educated until it shall reach the age of eight years: Provided, 
That such education may be continued beyond the age of eight years, 
when, for physical, mental or other proper reasons, such child or 
children need special care for a longer period. The Contract may 
be canceled and the child or children removed at any time by the 
board. This act shall not repeal or modify any existing act relative 
to the education of the blind. (Section 1439. Section 1439 added 



31 

by amendment of May 8, 1913, P. L. 158. Ee-amended by act of 
May 17, 1917, P. L. 206, Section 1.) 

Readers for Certain Blind Students. The Department of 
Public Instrnction is authorized to make provisions for defraying 
the necessary expense of any students who are blind or deaf and are 
regularly enrolled students pursuing any course of study, profession, 
art, science in any university, college, conservatory of music, normal, 
professional, or vocational school approved by the Department of 
Public Instruction, and who are residents of the Commonwealth. 
Before any contract is entered into, the Department of Public 
Instruction shall make a careful investigation of all circumstances 
surrounding the case, and if, after such investigation, it appears 
that any blind or deaf student who desires to attend any such school 
or institution, or who is attending such school or institution, seems 
to be fitted for special Avork, the Department of Public Instruction 
is authorized to expend the necessary amount, out of the general 
sum appropriated for this purpose, not to exceed five hundred dollars 
per year for each blind or deaf student. Section 1440. (Added by 
amendment of May 17, 1917, P. L. 206, Sec. 2.) (Amended March 
26, 1925, P. L. 74, Sec. 1.) 

Definition of Cost of Tuition. The term "cost of tuition" or 
the term "cost of tuition, textbooks, and school supplies," as used in 
article fourteen of the act of which this is an amendment, shall 
after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred and twenty- 
iflve, include the cost of the following items: (1) instruction, in- 
(Cluding salaries of members of the teaching and supervisory staff, 
and attendance of teachers at institutes; (2) text books and school 
supplies; and (3) fuel, light, water and janitor service; and shall 
also include ten per centum (10%) of the total cost of said items. 
Calculation of the cost of tuition in any district shall be made 
;separately for elementary and high school pupils respectively. 

The board of school directors in any district maintaining an ele- 
mentary school which is attended by any pupils residing in another 
district as herein provided shall at the close of each term calculate 
the per capita cost of tuition in such district for the school term 
then ended, upon the basis of the average daily attendance in said 
elementary school for the entire school term. 

Provided, That the board of school directors of any district in 
-which there is located an elementary school receiving a share of any 
appropriation for the salaries of elementary school teachers shall 
deduct its share of the last such appropriation received for the 
teacher or teachers in said elementary school from the total cost 
of tuition before computing the per capita cost of tuition, in order 
to certify properly for pupils attending the same from other districts. 

The charge made by any school district receiving any pupil not 
resident therein to the district in which such child resides shall be 
equal to the per capita cost of instruction calculated for the pre- 
vious school term. 

The board of school directors in any district maintaining an ele- 
mentary school which is attended by any pupils residing in another 
district as herein provided shall upon admission of such pupils 
properly certify to the board of school directors of the district in 
which such pupils reside the names of all such pupils, together with 



32 

an itemized statement of the cost of tuition per school month as 
herein defined, and the cost of snch tuition shall be paid monthly 
to the district maintaining; such elementary school by the district 
to which the same was certified. Section 1441. (Added by amend- 
ment of May 1, 1925, P. L. 435, Sec. 1.) 

HIGH SCHOOLS 

Where Pupils May Attend. Pupils residing in a school district 
in which no public high school is maintained may attend, during the 
entire term, the nearest or most conveniently located high school of 
such class as they may desire to attend. In any district Avhich main- 
tains a high school Avhose program of studies terminates before the 
end of the twelfth year, pupils who have satisfactorily completed 
the same or have completed a program of studies equivalent to said 
program of studies in some other school or schools, may attend, at the 
expense of the school board of the district in which they live, the 
nearest or most conveniently located high school of such class as 
they may desire to attend giving further high school work: Provided, 
That pupils wishing to attend a high school in a district other than 
the one in which they reside shall obtain the consent of the board 
of school directors of the district in which such high school is located 
before attending the same: And provided further, That pupils 
desirous of having their tuition paid in a high school in another 
district, on account of having completed the equivalent of the pro- 
gram of studies in their own district in some other school or schools, 
must present to the board of their own district and the board of the 
district in which they wish to attend, a certificate from the county 
superintendent who has jurisdiction over the district in which they 
live that they have satisfactorily completed the equivalent of said 
program of studies. County superintendents are hereby authorized 
and required to examine such pupils, and if entitled, to issue to them 
the necessary certificates : And provided further. That the board of 
school directors of the district in which the said pupil or pupils 
reside may, by agreement in writing, provide for the attendance and 
tuition of the said pupil or pupils without the necessity of the said 
pupil or pupils taking the county examination, with the approval of 
the County Superintendent in writing. County superintendents are 
hereby authorized and in cases where the boards of the districts 
have not agreed as hereinbefore provided for, required to examine 
such pupils and if entitled, to issue to them the necessarv certificate. 
Section 1707. (Amended June 1, 1915, P. L. 672; April 7, 1925, P. L. 
166, Sec. 2; May 4, 1927, Acts, No. 347, 349.) 

Certificates for Non-Eesident Pupils. The board of school 
directors in any district maintaining a high school which is attended 
by any pupils residing in another district as herein provided shall 
at the close of each term calculate the per capita cost of tuition in 
such district for the school term then ended, upon the basis of the 
average daily attendance in said high school for the entire school 
term : 

Provided, That the board of school directors of any district in 
which there is located a high school receiving a share of any appro- 
priation for the salaries of high school teachers shall deduct its 



33 

share of the last such appropriation received for the teacher or 
teachers in said high school from the total cost of tuition before com- 
puting the per capita cost of tuition, in order to certify properly 
for pupils attending the same from other districts. 

The charge made by any school districts receiving any pupil not 
resident therein to the district in which such child resides shall be 
equal to the per capita cost of instruction calculated for the previous 
school term. 

The board of school directors in any district maintaining a high 
school which is attended by any pupils residing in another district 
as herein provided shall upon admission of such pupils properly cer- 
tify to the board of school directors of the district in which such 
pupils reside the names of all such pupils, together with an itemized 
statement of the cost of tuition per school month as herein defined, 
and the cost of such tuition shall be paid monthly to the district 
maintaining such high school by the district to which the same was 
certified. The per capita cost herein specified shall be computed upon 
the basis of the average daily attendance in said high school for the 
entire school term: Provided, That a district maintaining grades 
seven and eight shall not be liable for tuition of pupils attending the 
seventh and eighth grades of a junior high school or six year high 
school in another district, except as is provided in section one thou- 
sand four hundred and four of this act. Section 1708. (Amended 
May 28, 1923, P. L. 45.5; May 1, 1925, P. L. 435; Sec. 3.) 

Attendance At More Convenient School. If any child has 
completed the elementary course of stud}^ in the public schools of the 
district in which he resides, and resides three or more miles, by the 
public road, from the nearest high school in said district, unless 
proper free transportation is furnished, he may attend any more con- 
venient high school in another district, without the consent of the 
board of school directors of the district in which he resides, and the 
district in which he resides shall be liable to the district whose high 
school he attends for the cost of his tuition, text-books, and supplies, 
as provided for in this act. (Section 1709.) 

Approval of Superintendent or Principal. All pupils desiring 
to attend any high school outside the district in which they reside 
shall first satisfy the superintendent having supervision of the dis- 
trict in which they reside, as well as the superintendent or principal 
of said high school, of their fitness to enter the same. (Section 1710.) 

Determining Tuition. The board of school directors of any dis- 
trict in which there is located a high school receiving a share of any 
appropriation for the salaries or high school teachers shall deduct 
its share of the last such appropriation received from the total cost 
of tuition, text-books, and supplies, before computing the cost per 
pupil, in order to certifv properly the expense for pupils attending the 
same from other districts. (Amended May 20, 1921, P. L. 1036, Sec. 
4. Section 1711.) 

Definition of Cost of Tuition. The term "cost of tuition" or 
the term "cost of tuition, text-books and school supplies" as used in 
article seventeen of the act to which this is an amendment, shall 
after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred and twenty- 
five, include the cost of the following items and no others: 



34 

(1) Instruction, including salaries of members of the teaching 
and supervisory statf, and attendance of teachers at institutes; (2) 
Text-books and school supplies; and (3) Fuel, light, water, and 
janitor service, and shall also include ten per centum (10%) of the 
total cost of said items. Calculation of the cost of tuition in any 
district shall be made separately for elementary and high school 
pupils respectively. The per capita cost of tuition herein specified 
shall be computed upon the basis of the average daily attendance for 
the entire school term. Section 1716. (Added by amendment May 1, 
1925, P. L. 435, Sec. 2.) 

SCHOOL CHILDREN PROHIBITED FROM ATTENDING MOTION 
PICTURE THEATRES DURING SCHOOL HOURS— EXCEPTIONS 

Moving Picture Theatres. That no owner, proprietor, or lessee,, 
or the agent of such owner, proprietor, or lessee, of any moving 
picture theatre shall, during the term of compulsory attendance of 
public schools as fixed by the board of school directors in any school 
district, and during the hours and upon the days such schools are in 
actual session, admit or permit entrance into such moving picture 
theatre of any cliild or children hetiveen eight and fourteen years of 
age: Provided, That the provisions of this act shall not apply to any 
child or children accompanied by its or their parent or parents or 
other responsible adult, nor to any such child or children presenting 
a permit signed by the teacher of such child, which permit allows such 
child or children to be absent from school during school hours and 
permits admission to the moving picture theatre. Such permit shall 
be retained by the owner, proprietor, lessee, or agent, and shall be 
preserved for a period of six months. (Section 4401.) 

Posting of Act. A copy of the provisions of this act shall be 
posted at a conspicuous place at or near the entrance into every 
moving picture theatre. (Section 4402.) 

Penalties. Any person violating any of the provisions of this 
act shall, in summary conviction therefor before any magistrate, 
alderman, or justice of the peace, be liable to a fine of ten dollars for 
the first offense, and twenty-five dollars for the second and every 
subsequent offense, and, in default of the payment of such fine and 
costs, such person shall be committed to jail one day for each dollar 
fine and costs imposed. (Section 4403. Act of July 8, 1919, P. L.. 
777.) 



35 

ATTENDANCE FORMS 

The following forms for the enforcement of the Compulsory At- 
tendance Law are type forms. The Department of Public Instruc- 
tion does not furnish the blanks except the "Attendance Officer's 
Book" and the "Transfer Card." The school board of a district may 
have these forms printed locally or secure them from firms that deal 
in school supplies. 

The following form, "Reason for Absence," is a suggested form in order 
to insure uniformity. This form when completely filled out should be kept 
on file in the teacher's room, in the principal's or in the superintendents 
office. (Size 3" x 5".) 



REASON FOR ABSENCE 



192 

Mr 



*tardy 
.was absent 



from 



school on The State law requires 



an explanation from the parent in each case of absence or tardiness. Kindly 
state the reason below. 

Teacher 

The reason for absence was 



signature of Parent or Guardian 

•Parent cross out one. 



36 

The form for "Teachers' Official Report of Absence" is filled out by the 
teacher and sent to the superintendent, supervising principal, attendance 
officer or the secretary. (5x8) 



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37 

The "Information Form" is filled out by the justice of the peace or 
magistrate on the oath of the attendance officer or other person making 
information against the offending parent. (Any size) 



INFORMATION FORM 

Type form to be used by school district in making iuformation to Justice or 
Magistrate ia requesting arrest of parent. 

County of Dauphin 

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 

Be it known, that on this 20th day of October in the year of our Lord one 
thousand nine hundred twenty-seven before me, the undersigned. Alderman, Justice 
of the Peace, Magistrate in and for the *city aforesaid, personally came Hairy Smith, 

*county 
Attendance Officer, who being duly sworn according to law deposes and says, that 
on the 3rd, 7th and 14th, days of October in the year of our Lord one thousand 
nine hundred twenty-seven, John Doe, a child between eight and sixteen years of 
age was not in attendance at a day school in which the common English branches 
are taught in the English language, and that To-m Doe who is the person in 
charge or control of said John Doe, has failed to require the said John Doe 
to attend a day school in which the common English branches are taught in the 
English language on the days hereinbefore specified and has failed to present 
or cause to be presented to the proper authorities a legal excuse for said absences 
contrary to the form of the Act of Assembly in such case made and provided. 

Sworn to and subscribed before me, 

this day of 

A. D. 19 



'Cross out one. 



The "Warrant" is filled out by the justice of the peace or magistrate 
and served upon the offending person by constable, sheriff, local or State 
police officer. 

FORM OF WARRANT 

(Name of School District) 

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 



To any police officer or constable of 
greeting. 



You are hereby commanded to take the body of 



if he be found in said district, and bring before me 

* Justice of Peace, 

♦Magistrate of Court No , of (District) , 

*Alderman, 

to answer the Commonwealth of a charge of violation of Act of General Assembly, 

approved May IS, 1911. (Compulsory Education Law), which charge is founded 

on oath of , and for so doing this is your warrant. 

In witness thereof, I have hereunto set iuy hand and affixed the official seal of 

said court. (Date) 

•Cross out two. 

J— 4 



38 

The "School District's Official Notice of Absence to Parents" is filled 
out by the attendance officer, superintendent, supervising principal or sec- 
retary. It should be served in person. 

SCHOOL DISTRICT'S OFFICIAL NOTICE OF ABSENCE 

TO PARENTS 

19..... 

M 



You are hereby oflBcially notified that 

has been absent from school three days or more, or their equivalent. Such non- 
attendance without lawful excuse is a violation of the Compulsory Attendance Law 
of this Commonwealth. You are therefore notified to return said child to school at 
once and show lawful reason to the undersigned for said child's absence. Failure 
on your part to do this makes you liable to the penalty imposed by law. 

SECTIONS FROM THE LAW: 

Section 1414. Every child having a legal residence in this Commonwealth, as 
herein provided, between the ages of eight and sixteen years is required to attend 
a day school in which the common English branches provided for in this Act are 
taught, and every parent, guardian or other person in this Commonwealth, having 
control or charge of any child or children between the ages of eight and sixteen 
years, is required to send such child or children to a day school in which the 
common English branches are taught, and such child or children shall attend such 
school continuously through the entire term during which the public elementary 
schools in their respective districts shall be in session. 

Section 1423. Every parent, guardian or person in parental relation in this 
Commonwealth having control or charge of any child or children between the ages 
of eight and sixteen years, who shall fail to comply with the provisions of this Act 
regarding compulsory attendance, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction 
thereof before any alderman, magistrate or justice of the peace shall be sentenced 
to pay a fine for the benefit of the school district in which such oifending person 
resides not exceeding two dollars ($2.00) for the first offense, and not exceeding 
five dollars ($5.00) for each succeeding offense, together with costs, and in default 
of the payment of such fine and costs by the person so offending, shall be sentenced 
to the county jail for a period not exceeding five days. 

Section 1428. It shall be the duty of every principal or teacher of a public school 
to report immediately to the attendance officer, superintendent of schools, super- 
vising principal or secretary of the board of school directors the names of all children 
in the list furnished to him who have not appeared for enrollment, and he shall also 
promptly report from time to time to the attendance officer, superintendent of schools, 
supervising principal or secretary of the board of school directors, the names of 
all children who have been absent three days or their equivalent, during the term 
of compulsory attendance, without lawful excuse. Such persons shall thereupon 
serve upon parent, guardian or other person in parental relation to such children 
the written notice hereinbefore provided, and if it shall appear within three 
days thereafter, any child, parent, guardian, or other person in parental relation 
shall have failed to comply with the provisions of this Act, the superintendent, 
supervising principal, attendance officer, or secretary of the board of school directors, 
in the name of the school district, shall proceed against the person so offending in 
accordance with the provisions of this Act. 

If, after such notice has been given, the provisions of this act regarding com- 
pulsory attendance are again violated by the persons so notified, at any time during 
the term of compulsory attendance, such person, so again offending, shall be liable 
under the provisions of this act without further notice. (Proviso, Section 1423.) 

Section 1430. Any district superintendent, supervising principal, secretary of 
the board of school directors, attendance officer or teacher, of any public school who 
wilfully refuses or neglects to comply with the provisions of this Act. shall be 
liable for and pay a penalty for the use of the school district not exceeding twenty- 
five dollars ($25.00) and costs, and in default of payment thereof may be committed 
to the county jail for a period not exceeding thirty days. 



(Signed) 
• Pa., 



For the Board of S'chool Directors. 



39 

The "Attendance Officer's Book" must be used in third and fourth class 
school districts. The attendance officer makes his entry in duplicate. One page 
is sent to the superintendent, principal or teacher. The other is left in 
the book for his reference. The dates of absence and visitation of the 
attendance officer must be recorded. (33" x 41") 

THIS RECORD TO REMAIN IN THE BOOK 



192 No 

Name of child Age 

School 

Name of 
parent or 
guardian 
Residence . 

Charge . . . 

Employer . 

Disposition 

of case 



Remarks 



Officer's I 

signature S 

Transfer Cards are issued by the superintendent, principal, or teacher 
for those pupils that move out of the district or to another school within 
the district. As soon as the child leaves a school the card properly filled 
■out shall be sent to the teacher of the school, the district superintendent 
'or the secretary of the district to which the child has moved. If the address 
is not known forward the card to the Attendance Bureau, Department of 
Fublic Instruction. (3 x 5) 



To be filled out for the pupil in ease of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 
transfer to a school outside the dis- DEPARTMENT OP PUBLIC IiNSTRUCTION 
trict. Send directly to the new d strict ATTENDANCE BUREAU 
when possible, otherwise to the At- Harrisburg 
tendance Bureau, Harrisburg, Pa. 

TRANSFER CARD 


Last name of pupil First name and initial 


Date of birth: 


Monthj Day j Year 

1 1 


School District 


Grade 

in 
school 


Days 

attend- 

3d this 

term 


Date of last 
Attendance 


Date of successful 
vaccination 


School 


Month 


Day 


Tear 


Name of parent or guardian 


Occupation of parent or guardian 


Residence before discharge 


New residence 

School district 

State 

County — 

Post OflSee _ 

Street and No. or R. P. D. 


Teacher or principal 
Address 


If pupil cannot be located within 5 days at new residence, return this card to the 
Attendance Bureau, Department of Public Instruction, Harrisburg, Pa. Write on 
Card "Cannot Locate." 
Form TC. Be sure to give street and number. 



PART II 
EMPLOYMENT OF MINORS 

Experience has demonstrated the fact that unless 
there are State laws to restrict the employment of 
minors at too early an age, in occupations detri- 
mental to their health and morals, they will develop 
into men and' icomen poorly fitted mentally, morally, 
and physically to perform, with maximum efficiency, 
their part in the world of tomorrow. A rigid en- 
forcement of the Child Lahor Act, therefore, becomes 
imperative. 



40 



41 

EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATES 

The provisions of the Act of 1915 do not affect in any way a minor 
employed on the farm or in domestic service in private homes. 
Domestic service in private homes refers not only to the service in the 
homes of the minors, but in the homes of other persons. Work in 
hotels and boarding houses is not domestic service. 

For the employment of minors at domestic service in private homes 
or upon the farm see pages 5G, .57 and 58. 

All minors between fourteen and sixteen years of age employed in 
Pennsylvania and residing in another state must hold an employ- 
ment certificate issued by the school authorities of the district in 
which they are employed. Their employment must be subject to the 
same restrictions as the employment of minors who are residents 
of Pennsylvania. Attendance at continuation school in the state of 
residence Avill fully satisfy the law. 

In the case of a minor who resides in this state but who is em- 
ployed in another state, the spirit of the Act would be fulfilled if 
that minor be granted an employment certificate provided he attend 
a continuation school in the district of his residence or some other 
continuation school in this CommonAvealth. However, the hours of 
labor and the nature of his employment outside of Pennsylvania 
should not be in conflict with the provisions of the Child Labor Act 
of 1915. Should the hours of employment and other conditions 
under which the minor would be required to work in a foreign state 
be not in conformity with the Child Labor Act, the application of 
that minor for an employment certificate should be refused and he 
should be required to attend the public school daily until he obtains 
such employment as would be in conformity with the Child Labor 
Act. 

If a minor wishes to engage in an employment not forbidden to 
him and if he wishes to work at such hours as do not violate the 
law nor interfere with his regular school attendance, he should 
apply for and secure a Vacation Employment Certificate. This 
allows him to work before and after school hours. The total hours 
of school attendance and of work combined must not exceed fifty- 
one hours in any one week or nine hours in any one day. 

Employment certificates are to be issued by a district superinten- 
dent or supervising principal in school districts having such officials 
and in districts having no such superintendent or principal, the 
secretary of the board of school directors of that district may issue 
them. These officials empowered to issue employment certificates 
may deputize in writing any other prfhlic school official to issue 
the employment certificates. 

The cost of the physical examination of the applicant for an em- 
ployment certificate should be borne by the minor examined. How- 
ever, if the board of school directors or the employer deem it advis- 
able they may pay the fee for the physical examination. 

PROHIBITED OCCUPATIONS 

The Child Labor Act, in section five, enumerates various danger- 
ous, unhealthful or morally unwholesome employments forbidden 
certain minors under penalty. Since this is a limitation of the com- 



42 

mon law right to contract for labor, this section of the act must 
receive a strict interpretation. Only those occupations can be con- 
strued as forbidden as are excluded in express terms or by clear 
necessary implication. 

Packing and banding of cigars is not expressly forbidden. The 
only allied occupation mentioned in the section referred to is "strip- 
ping, assorting or manufacturing tobacco." It cannot be fairly con- 
strued that this was intended to cover the Avork of packing and 
banding cigars, therefore packing and banding cigars is not an em- 
ployment forbidden to a minor under sixteen by the act. 

Minors are forbidden by law to engage in certain occupations. 
These are listed below. 

A minor is any person under 21 years of age. 



LIST OF PROHIBITED OCCUPATIONS 

Minors under 21 years of age 

*Calling train crews by a female minor. 

*Lead: Working at stripping corroded lead stacks, dry packing of 
lead compounds, or repairing of ventilating systems of any lead 
corroding or oxidizing plant 
Liquors: Working in or in connection with any saloon, or bar 

room where alcoholic liquors are sold 
Messenger: Working as a messenger for a telephone, telegraph 
or messenger company before 6 o'clock in the morning or after 
8 o'clock in the evening 
*Meters: Testing and reading gas or electric meters by a female 

minor 
*Operating cranes by a female minor (except as permitted by In- 
dustrial Board) 
Street trades: Work at street trades by any girl 

Minors under 18 years of age 

Automobile or aeroplane: Working as chauffeur or pilot 
Boats : Pilot, fireman, or engineer upon any boat or vessel 
*Bricks: Working or horizontal or vertical pug mills 
Electrical work: 

* Inside electrical wiring and installing or removing electrical 
meters, except for a minor over 16 as assistant to trained 
electrician over 21, and on low voltage only 
*Outside electrical wiring 
*Testing electric meters 
Elevators: Operating and managing passenger or freight ele- 
vators and hoisting or lifting machinery 
**Explosives : Working in or about any establishment where explo- 
sives are manufactured, handled or stored 
*Highways: As section hands 
*Lead: Making or handling mixtures or dry lead compounds 

•Regulation of the Department of Labor and Industry 

••Provision of the Child Labor Law as extended by a regTilatJon of the Department of Labor 
»n(J Industry 



43 

**Liquors: Serving, handling, or care of alcoholic liquors in places 
wliei-e manufactured, sold, dispensed, or stored 
Machinery : 

Cleaning or oiling machinery in motion 
Operating or assisting in the operation of the following — 
*Emery wheels except as apprentice under proper supervision 

incidental to other work 
*Metal plate bending machines operated by power 
*Mixing machines in bakeries 

*Puncli presses, except tor a minor over 16 as apprentice 
under proper supervision 

* Wire-stitching machines 

* Wood working machinery (power-driven) except for a minor 

over 16 as apprentice under proper supervision 
*Messenger: Work in public messenger service by any girl 
Metal industries: 

^'Handling bull ladles, containing molten metal 
**In or about furnaces, except as water boys 
*Working in rolling mills on machines in connection with roll 
tables, roll cars and greasers 
*Motion pictures: Working as projectionists, except for a minor 
over 17 as apprentice 
Polishing or buffing wheels 
**Pool rooms and bowling alleys : In pool rooms and bowling alleys 
except for minors over 16 in private pool rooms and bowling 
alleys 
*Quarries: Drilling, shot firing, assisting in loading or tamping 
holes, face cleaning, attaching blocks to chains for cable hoist- 
ing, operating or assisting in oj)erating steam, air or electric 
shovels 
Railroads and railways : 

Brakemen, firemen, engineer, motorman or conductor 
*Call boys 
* Section hands 
SAvitch or gate tending 
Track repairing 
*Rivets: Heating and passing rivets, except under special conditions 

for a minor over 16 
*Tanneries: Work pertaining to the tanning process 
*Welding: Acetylene or electric welding 

Minors under 16 years of age 

Belts : 

Adjusting or assisting to adjust any belt to any machinery while 

in motion 
Working near any hazardous or unguarded belt, machinery or 
gearing while such equipment is in motion 
Boats: Working on any boat engaged in the transportation of 

passengers or merchandise 
Building trades: Heavy work 



•Regulation of the Department of Labor and Industry 

•♦Provision of the Child Labor Law as extended by a regulation of the Department of Labor 



and Industry 



u 

*Coal dredgers : Working on coal dredgers 
Liquors : Serving, handling, or care of alcoholic liquors in places 

where manufactured, sold, dispensed, or stored 
Machinery: Operating or assisting in the operation of the follow- 
ing— 
*Blueprint machines 
Calendar-rolls in paper and rubber manufacturing or other heavy 

power-driven rolls 
Corrugating-rolls as used in making corrugated paper or in roof- 
ing or washboard factories 
Dough brakes or cracker machinery of any description 
Electrical machinery — dangerous electrical machinery or ap- 
pliances 
*Embossing machines 
*Lanston Monotype Casters 
Laundering machinery 
* Machine tools, except as apprentice under proper supervision 
Metal or paper cutting machines 
Paper-lace machines 
*Paper ruling machines 
Power punches or shears 

Printing presses, job or cylinder, operated by power 
Boiling mill machineiy 
Stamping machines used in sheet metal, tinw'are, paper or leather 

manufacturing, or in washer and nut factories 
Threading or pointing machines used in the manufacture of bolts 

and screws, except machines with full automatic feed 
Washing, grinding, or mixing machinery 
Wire or iron straightening or draAving machinery 
Mines: Working in any anthracite or bituminous coal mine or in 

any other mine 
Motor vehicles: Operating motor vehicles of any description 
Paints and Poisons: 

Manufacturing of paints, colors or white-lead 
Manufacturing or using dangerous or poisonous dyes 
Preparing compositions in which dangerous leads or acids are 
used 
*Pitts and Quarries: In quarries or in the vicinity of explosives 
used, stored, or handled in connection with quarry operations 
Railroads : Working on any steam, electric, or other railroad 
Scaffolding: Working on scaffolding 
Tobacco : 

Stripping, assorting, or manufacturing tobacco 
*Working in the cigar industry, except in the packing and band- 
ing of cigars 
Tunnels: Working in any tunnel 

1. No Male under the age of Fourteen and no Female minor 
may be employed as a scavenger, bootblack, or in any other trade or 
occupation performed in any street or public place. 

2. No Male minor under the age of Twelve and no Female minor 

♦Regulation of the Department of Labor and Industry 

**Provlsion of the Child Labor Law as extended by a regulation of the Department of Labor 
and Industry 



45 

may sell any newspaper, magazine or other publication or any article 
of merchandise in any street or public place. 

3. No Male minor under Sixteen and no Female minor may be 
engaged at selling papers or in the street trades before 6 o'clock in 
the morning or after 8 o'clock in the evening. 

All minors between 14-16 years of age employed in Pennsylvania 
and residing in another state must hold an employment certificate 
issued by the school authorities of the district in which they are 
employed. 



STREET TRADES 

The law expressly forbids the employment of minors under twenty- 
one years of age to deliver or collect goods or messages for a tele- 
phone, telegraph or messenger company between eight P. M. and 
six A. M. However, if a minor over 16 years of age is employed by 
a mercantile house to deliver packages, he may work after eight 
o'clock P. M. without violating the laAV. 

Proprietors of news stands in privately controlled buildings may 
employ girls under twenty-one years of age; but the selling of publi- 
cations and merchandise in any street, park or public place, is for- 
bidden to all girls under twenty-one. If a news stand is located in 
a street, park or public place, the proprietor may not employ girls 
under twentj-one without violating the law. 

It is unlawful to sell newspapers to a boy under twelve years of 
age if that boy intends to sell the papers again. Publishers are not 
violating the law, however, if they sell to agents who in turn sell to 
minors under twelve years for sale on the streets. The agents would 
be violating the law. 

There is no provision in the Act for boys over twelve years of age 
who wish to work for themselves as newsboys. Local municipal 
authorities should adopt regulations licensing boys engaged in the 
street trades. The municipal authorities should co-operate with the 
school authorities and the Department of Labor and Industry in 
making the regulations effective. School authorities should assume 
responsibility for carrying out requirements regarding street trades. 

When a minor between fourteen and sixteen years of age sells 
newspapers as a paid employee of another, he must hold either a 
vacation employment certificate, if he be employed at such times 
as not to interfere with his regular attendance at the regular schools, 
or a general employment certificate if the work does not permit of 
his regular attendance at the common schools. In the latter case 
he must, however, attend a continuation school. The work must be 
performed between six o'clock in the morning and eight o'clock in 
the evening of any day. The total number of hours of employment 
cannot exceed fifty-one hours a week or nine hours a day. The 
time the minor is either in a continuation school or in a regular 
school is to be considered a part of the working day or working 
week. 



46 

DIRECTIONS FOR THE ISSUANCE OF EMPLOYMENT 
CERTIFICATES 

To minors seeking employment certificates; to officers who issue 
employment certificates; to parents and guardians of minors; to 
school superintendents and principals; to examining physicians; 
and to employers of minors under 16 years of age: 

All employment certificates must be issued on forms provided by 
the Child Helping and Accounting Bureau of the Department of 
Public Instruction. 

There shall be but one person in each school district who shall 
receive employment certificate forms and issue employment certifi- 
cates. 

KINDS OF EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATES 

1. General Employment Certificates for those who want to work 
the entire year. 

2. Vacation Employment Certificates for those who want to work 
only at times when the public schools are not in session. 

3. Age Certificates for minors 16 to 18 years of age who are em- 
ployed. 



WHO CAN SECURE A GENERAL EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE 
A minor 14 years of age or over who has 

a. Completed the equivalent of six yearly grades of the 
public schools. 

b. A promise of employment signed by his prospective em- 
ployer that he will give him employment. 

e. A certificate of health signed by a physician approved 
by the Board of School Directors. 

WHO CAN SECURE A VACATION EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE 
A minor 14 years of age or over who has 

a. A promise of emplovm.ent signed by his prospective em- 
ployer that he will give him employment. 

b. A certificate of health signed by a physician approved 
by the Board of School Directors. 

FORMS OF CERTIFICATES TO BE USED BY ISSUING OFFICER 
I. General Employment Certificate Forms 

1. Form PE (Promise of Employment). 

2. Form SR-GEC (School Record for General Employment Certi- 

ficate). 

3. Form HC-PE (Record of Physical Examination and Health 

Certificate). 
Forms PE, SR-GEC and HC-PE are all contained upon one 
blank entitled ''Preliminary Blanks" Form PB-GEC 



47 

4. Form GEC (General Employment Certificate). 

5. Form K-GEC (Receipt for General Employment Certificate). 

II. Vacation Employment Certificate Forms 

1. Form PVE (Promise of Vacation Employment). 

2. Form HC-PE (Record of Phys^ical Examination and Health 

Certificate). 
Forms PVE and HC-PE are all contained upon one blank 
entitled ''Preliminary Blanks'' Form PB-VEC. 

3. Form VEC (Vacation Employment Certificate). 

4. Form R-VEC (Receipt for Vacation Employment Certificate). 

III. Age Certificate Form 
1. Form AC (Age Certificate, See pages 50 and 68) 

EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE REPORTS 

Employer's Report — Form ER — is to be filled out quarterly by the 
employer and forwarded to the issuing officer, secretary of the 
school district, or superintendent wherein the minor has his resi- 
dence. The first quarter ends September 30th. (Sections 1419 and 
1422) 

Employment Certificate Report — Form R-FEM is the quarterly 
report submitted by the school district to the Department of Public 
Instruction, indicating the number of minors employed, certificates 
issued, and other data relative to the employment of minors. 

WHEN TO USE THE VARIOUS FORMS AND 
CERTIFICATES 

1. The General Employment Certificate, form GEC, is used when 
a minor between the ages of 14 and 1(3 years wishes to work all the 
time allowed by law. 

2. The Vacation Employment Certificate, form VEC, is used when 
a minor between the ages of 14 and 16 wishes to work only before 
or after school hours, Saturdays, holidays and vacation periods. 

8. The Promise of Employment, form PE, is filled out by the em- 
ployer when the minor seeks a general employment certificate. 

4. The Promise of Vacation Employment, form PVE, is filled out 
by the employer when a minor seeks a vacation employment cer- 
tificate. 

5. The Record of Physical Examination and Health Certificate, 
form HC-PE, is filled out by the physician when a minor seeks a 
general or vacation employment certificate. 

6. The School Record, form SR-GEC, is filled out by the school 
principal when a minor seeks a general employment certificate. 

7. The Receipt for the General Employment Certificate, form 
R-GEC, is sent with the general employment certificate to the em- 
ployer of the minor. It is returned to the issuing officer upon 
receipt of general employment certificate. 

8. The Receipt for the Vacation Employment Certificate, form 
R-VEC, is sent with the vacation employment certificate to the 



48 

employe:c of the minor. It is returned to the issuing officer upon 
receipt of vacation employment certificate. 

9. All the forms are to be obtained by minors from issuing officer. 



I. GENERAL EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATES 

WHAT THE MINOR MUST DO TO SECURE AN EMPLOYMENT 
CERTIFICATE 

(a) When a minor between 14 and 16 years of age has received 
a promise of employment, his parent or person in parental relation 
shall apply to the issuing officer of the school district in which he 
resides, for Form PB (Preliminary Blank), 

(b) The minor shall procure one of the evidences of age required. 
(See page 51). 

(c) The minor shall take the blank with evidence of age. 

1. To the person who promises employment. He will fill out and 
sign Form PE. 

2. To the principal or teacher of the school last attended. lie 
will fill out and sign Form SR. 

3. To the physician approved by the board of school directors. 
He will fill out and sign P'orm HC-PE. 

4. The minor shall return the blank to the issuing officer together 
with the evidence of age required. 

5. He shall sign the employment certificate, if granted. 

(d) The minor must attend continuation school eight hours per 
week in the district where he is employed if there be a continuation 
school in that district; if there be no continuation school in the 
district in which he is employed but one in the district of his resi- 
dence he must attend there. 

(e) The teacher of the continuation school shall immediately enter 
the minor's name upon the school roll, and the teacher of the day 
school shall indicate by the symbol '*G" the absence of the minor, and 
shall no longer count him as a member of the school. 

The minor's name shall be continued upon the roll of the last 
school attended until the certificate has actually been issued. 



WHAT THE OFFICER WHO ISSUES EMPLOYMENT CERTIFI- 
CATES MUST DO 

1. Require all applications for general or vacation certificates to 
be made in person by the parent or guardian of minor. 

2. Receive a signed statement from the prospective employer 
promising the minor work, and stating the character of work and the 
number of hours per day and per week the minor will be employed. 

3. Receive the school record of minor requesting a general employ- 
ment certificate. 

4. Receive the proper certificate of physical fitness of minor re- 
questing a general or vacation employment certificate. 

5. Receive a proof of age of minor (Section 15 of the law). 

6. Sign with the minor the preliminary blank (Form PB), if he 
accepts the evidence of age submitted and finds that the preliminary 
blank is made out in compliance with the law. 



49 

7. Fill out, if the application is approved, the General Employ- 
ment certificate (Form GEC) and mail it with the attached receipt 
(Form R-GEC) to the employer. The certificate shall never be given 
to the minor. 

8. Notify, upon the issuance of a General Employment Certificate 
during the school term, the principal or teacher of the continuation 
school which the minor shall attend and also the principal or teacher 
of the day school which the minor was attending. He shall forward 
at once the stub on the General Employment Certificate to the proper 
school official of the district where the minor will attend continuation 
school. 

9. Receive the receipt for the employment certificate wlien signed 
and returned by the employer. 

10. Issue a new employment certificate if the minor changes the 
character of his employment, provided said minor receives a signed 
statement from the employer promising work, and a certificate of 
physical fitness issued after re-examination has been made. 

11. Use only standard certificates supplied by State Superintendent 
of Public Instruction. 

12. File in his office the following cards: Preliminary blank, em- 
ployer's receipt of employment certificate and employment certificate 
returned upon termination of employment. 

Note: Whenever a certificate shall be refused to any minor, the 
school record issued to such minor shall be forwarded by the official 
refusing to issue the certificate, to the principal of the school which 
said minor shall attend, or to the compulsory attendance officer. 

WHAT THE EMPLOYER MUST DO 

1. Issue a signed statement that minor will be given employment. 
Forms for this will be furnished by superintendent or supervising 
principal of public schools. 

2. Post in a conspicuous place in his establishment a printed copy 
of Section 4 of Act 177, Session 1915, relating to hours of labor, and 
list or lists of all minors employed under the age of 16. These sec- 
tions of the Act will be furnished by Department of Labor and In- 
dustry upon application. 

3. Furnish the employment certificates and list of minors for 
inspection by attendance officers, factory inspectors or other author- 
ized officers. 

1. Acknowledge in writing to issuing officer on form attached to 
the employment certificate, the receipt of vacation or general em- 
ployment certificate Avithin three days after beginning of employ- 
ment. 

5. Return by mail the vacation or general employment certificate 
to issuing officer immediately on termination of employment if de- 
manded by minor for whom certificate was issued, otherwise, within 
three days after termination of said employment. 

6. Send all minors between the ages of 11 and 16 employed by 
him to a continuation school for at least 8 hours a week. 

7. Send to the superintendent of schools, supervising principal 
or secretary of his school district, the name, age, place of residence, 
and name of parent or guardian of every minor between the ages of 
14 and 16 in his employ. This must be done before the first day of 



50 

October in each year and quarterly thereafter on the forms hereto- 
fore used. 

WHAT THE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL MUST DO 

1. Fill out and sign the school record of any minor between the 
ages of 14 and 16 years, who intends to leave school and go to work 
and who has completed a course of study equivalent to 6 yearly grades 
of the public schools in the English language, spelling, reading, 
arithmetic, geography, and history of the United States. 

WHAT THE DOCTOR MUST DO 

1. Make a thorough examination of any minor between the ages 
of 14 and 16 years who intends to get employment other than on the 
farm or in domestic service. 

2, Fill out on blanks furnished by issuing officer, a true record of 
the examination of minor and certify that he or she is or is not 
physically qualified for the occupation selected. 

WHAT THE PARENT OR GUARDIAN MUST DO 

1. Must apply in person to the issuing officer for a general or a 
vacation employment certificate for the boy or girl between 14 and 
16 years of age who intends to go to work. 

II. VACATION EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATE (Form VEC) 

The method of procuring a Vacation Certificate and the require- 
ments are the same as for the General Employment Certificates except 
that no school record or continuation school attendance shall be 
required. 

III. AGE CERTIFICATE 

The following ruling applying to minors ttetween the ages of sixteen 
(16) and eighteen (18) years known as Rule M-21 of the Rulings of 
the Industrial Board relating to the Child Labor Act of 1915, was 
adopted on August 7, 1925. 

"That to secure better administration of the Act No. 177 of 
1915, it is required that minors who are sixteen and under 
eighteen years of age, on applying for a position in any establish- 
ment, or in any occupation in this Commonwealth, shall present 
an age certificate authorized by the Attendance Bureau of the 
Department of Public Instruction and issued and signed by the 
proper officers of the local school board. Such certificate shall 
remain on file with the employer during said minor's term of 
employment, to be returned to the minor when the term of em- 
ployment ceases." 

1. It is therefore required that before any employer shall employ 
a minor claiming to be between the ages of sixteen and eighteen years 
he shall require said minor to secure an Age Certificate from the 
school official who issues employment certificates in the district where 
the minor has his residence. 



51 

2. The same evidences of age as are required for the General 
Employment Certificate are required for the Age Certificate. See 
page 51. 

3. A record of each Age Certificate issued giving the name, ad- 
dress, age, evidence of age accepted, the number of the certificate 
and date of issuance should be permanently filed in the office of the 
issuing officer. 

4. No age certificate is authentic unless issued upon the form 
furnished by the Child Helping and Accounting Bureau, Department 
of Public Instruction. 



PROOF OF AGE 

In all cases where an employment certificate, a permit or an age 
certificate is issued one of the following evidences of age must be 
required in the order indicated. 

(a) Transcript of Birth Certificate filed according to law; 

In all cases the minor should first be required to present a tran- 
script of the birth certificate filed according to law. If he can not 
secure locally this transcript he should be required to secure the 
transcript from the Bureau of Vital Statistics, Department of Health, 
Harrisburg, Penna. The records of the Bureau of Vital Statistics 
have now been maintained for a sufficient length of time so that 
there should be a birth certificate recorded therein for every child 
born in this Commonwealth who is between 14 and 16 years of age. 
A fee of fifty cents is charged for this transcript of the (birth 
certificate and should be forwarded to the Bureau of Vital Statis- 
tics when the request is made for the birth certificate. The appli- 
cant should give the following information: Full Name of Minor, 
Date of Birth, (Month, Day, Year,) Place of Birth, (Street and 
Number,) Names of Parents, Name of attending Physician, For what 
purpose desired. 

(b) Baptismal Certificate or a certified transcript of the record 
of baptism; or, 

(c) Passport showing age; or, 

(d) Any other documentary record of age other than school 
record; or, 

(e) If no other evidence is available Physician's certificate of 
evidence of age and affidavit of parent or guardian. 

THE CONTINUATION SCHOOL 

The continuation school contemplated in this Act should mark the 
first step in a new type of education for these young workers. This 
school requires different methods of teaching than are used in a tra- 
ditional school. The instructional material should be adapted to 
meet particular immediate needs of the students. 

Continuation schools shall be established by the several school 
districts of the Commonwealth for all minors between the ages of 
14 and 16 years Avho have general employment certificates. It is 
the intent of the act that all school districts in which minors between 
the ages of 14 and 16 are employed, shall establish these schools. 
However, it is not deemed advisable that schools be established in 



52 

districts where there are less than twenty minors between the ages 
of 14 and 16 who are eligible to attend these continuation schools. 
Upon annlication to the Superintendent of Public Instruction, a 
district having less than twenty pupils eligible to attend a continua- 
tion school, may be temporarily relieved of the necessity of estab- 
Mshing a continuation school. In vieAv of this exemption any minor 
employed in a district in which there is no continuation school shall 
attend the continuation school in the district of his residence if 
there be a continuation school in that district. 

Every three months each school district is required to send to 
the Child Helping and Accounting Bureau a quarterly report which 
gives the number of fourteen to sixteen year old workers employed in 
that school district under authority of general employment certifi- 
cates. When the number of such juvenile workers is twenty or more 
the school district is required to establish and maintain a continua- 
tion school. Experience has shown that one of the essentials for 
maintaining a satisfactory continuation school is the belief spread 
throughout the community that the school is permanent. According- 
ly, although the State Department of Public Instruction will not re 
quire the establishment of a continuation school, until the number of 
juvenile workers is twenty or more, neither will it approve the dis- 
continuing of such school the moment the number drops below 
twenty. \Vlien a school is once established it is not to be discon- 
tinued without the express approval of the State Department of 
Public Instruction. 

Wliile it is obligatory that the school districts establish and main- 
tain continuation schools, yet pending action by the districts in 
establishing such a school or schools, the minor may be employed 
for 51 hours per week until such a school has been established, after 
which he may be employed but 43 hours per week. The proviso in 
Section 3 of the act relieves the manufacturer of obligation and 
penalty incurred by the failui'e of the school district to establish 
a continuation school. Employment may be either in the district 
where the minor resides or in another district. But in determining 
whether a school district is required to establish and maintain a 
continuation school, all such minors, regardless of place of resi- 
dence, who work in that district, are counted; and all such minors 
regardless of place of residence, must attend continuation school 
in the district where they are employed. 

The continuation schools shall be in session the same number 
of weeks per year as the common schools of the district are in 
session. Each pupil must attend eight hours each week. The as- 
signment may be on two days of four hours each, or on four days 
of two hours each. The State Department of Public Instruction will 
not approve one day of eight hours unless it can be shown that 
a different assignment would entail undue inconvenience on pupils 
or employers or both. 

These schools must be approved by the Superintendent of Public 
Instruction as to location, organization, equipment, courses of study, 
qualifications of teachers and methods of instruction. 

The continuation school may be housed in a separate building, 
in a public school building, preferably a junior or senior high school 
building, or in an establishment in which minors are employed. 
Such building may be located either in the district in which the 



53 

minors are employed or in a joint school as authorized under Sec- 
tion 1801 of the School Code. No tuition can be exacted from a 
district in which a minor lives for his attendance at a continuation 
sdiool. In all instances the schools must be within reasonable 
access to the i>lace of employment. When these schools are estab- 
lished they become a part of the public school system of the school 
district in which they are located and must be under the supervision 
of the local public school authorities and the State Superintendent of 
Public Instruction. 

All rooms, whether, in a local public school, joint school, rented 
rooms, or an employer's establishment, must be adapted to school 
work and must meet the requirements for school buildings as set 
forth in Article VI of the School Code. 

If an employer provides a room for a continuation school which 
has been approved by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
all minor employees fourteen to sixteen years of age in the district 
may attend this school. 

No continuation school shall be in session on Saturday nor on 
Sunday nor before eight o'clock in the morning nor after five o'clock 
in the afternoon of any other day. 

A person employing a minor shall notify the officer by whom 
the employment certificate of said minor was issued, indicating the 
school, hours per day and the days of the week the minor should 
be in school. This is usually done by simply accepting the assign- 
ment made by the school officials. 

AVhere a minor between fourteen and sixteen years of age is in 
attendance upon a regular school during its usual and customary 
hours, it would not be unlawful to employ him during the other 
hours of the day, not earlier than six o'clock in the morning or 
later than eight o'clock in the evening, provided a vacation employ- 
ment certificate be duly issued for him and that the nature of the 
employment is one permitted to such a minor under said act, and 
provided further that the hours of school attendance and work 
do not exceed the maximum number prescribed in the fourth section 
of the act, namely; fifty-one hours in any one week and nine hours 
in any one day. In such a case the attendance at the regular school 
would more than compensate for the schooling required in the 
continuation school provided for in Section 3. The purpose of this 
latter section will be fulfilled Avhere a minor who is employed during 
hours other than those of the regular school session attends such 
school during its ordinary period. 

ATTENDANCE AT CONTINUATION SCHOOL 

1. E\'ery boy or girl between the ages of 14 and 16 years, who 
is employed upon a general employment certificate or an exemption 
permit must attend a continuation school at least 3 hours a week 
on any week days, except Saturday, between the hours of 8:00 A. M. 
and 5:00 P. M. Night school attendance cannot be accepted in lieu 
of attendance at continuation school. 

2. The matter of a minor's absence from a continuation school 
is an administrative question to be treated by the local authorities. 
When the minor ceases to attend school as prescribed by law, the 
employer cannot longer lawfully continue to give him employment. 

J— 5 



54 

When a minor, without reasonable cause, persists in absenting him- 
self from the continuation school to which he belongs, it is the 
duty of the employer to discharge him forthwith, and of the school 
authorities to cancel his employment certificate and compel his 
attendance at the regular school. 

HOURS OF WORK 

1. For all minors under 10, the hours of work must not be more 
than 51 hours a week or more than 9 hours a day, nor before Q 
o'clock in the morning or after 8 o'clock in the evening. 

2. The hours spent in a continuation school are considered part 
of the working day or week. 

SUGGESTED FORM LETTERS 

Certificating officers have found that there is at times confusion 
resulting from the lack of acquaintance with the law. Toward the 
elimination of this confusion several jilans have been tried out. 

The following form letter as an enclosure with certificates to 
employers who for the first time are employing children within the 
provisions of the Child Labor Act, has much to commend it: 

(Name of Public Schools) 

My dear Sir: 

I wish to call your attention to certain, features in the Child Labor Kct which 
vitally concern your employment of minors between the ages of fourteen and six- 
teen years. 

No certificates are granted to children who have not reached fourteen years of 
age or who have not completed the work of the sixth grade in accordance with the 
prescribed course of study in the public schools. 

The law expressly forbids the employing of said minors at certain dangerous 
positions, notably at or near certain power machines, as enumerated in Section 5 
of the Law. 

The law limits the length of time during which said minor may be employed 
to not more than fiftv-one hours in one week nor m.ore than, nine hours in any one 
day. The minor shall not be employed before six o'clock, A. M., nor after eight 
o'clock P. M. 

The minor must attend a Continuation School for a period, or periods, aggre- 
gating eight hours in each week. This time must be considered as part of the 
working week, thereby limiting the total working time remaining to forty-three hours 
in each week. 

The responsibility for allowing time for the minor's attendance at the Continua- 
tion School is placed upon the employer. In order to facilitate your handling of 
the situation, a certificate of attendance is given each pupil at the close of each 
school day. 

In order to aid us in our handling of the certificates of these minors, we wish 
to stress particularly the law relative to acceptance and return of employment certifi- 
cates by the employer. 

Upon the acceptance of an employment certificate, return the receipt, duly signed, 
to the issuing officer. 

Whenever a minor ceases to be employed by you, please return the certificate to 
the issuing ofiicer. The certificate is of no use to any other employer and is not 
to be given to the minor. It becomes part of our permanent record. 

You are to keep posted a list of the minors within the provisions of thi.s act 
and are to report, quarterly, on forms supplied you the names of all said minors 
as enumerated on said form. 

In order to make our Continuation Sihool helpful to you and your employees 
we ask your earnest co-operation. Any suggestion you may have to offer will be 
gladly received. 



55 

This letter is sent in a spirit of co-operation. We wish to assist you in meet- 
ing the requirements of the law for our mutual benefit. 

Yours truly, 

Another city uses follow-up cards which might well be copied 
elsewhere as a solution of some probable troubles: 

School District of the City of Pa. 

OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT 

Please return the Receipt for Employment Certificate issued for 

You will note on the receipt that you are required to sign and return it to this 
office within three days after the minor begins employment. 

Yours very truly, 



Superintendent of Schools 

"It shall be the duty of every person who shall employ any 
minor under sixteen years of age to acknowledge, in writing to the 
oflQcial issuing the same, the receipt of the employment certificate of 
said minor, within three days after the beginning of such employ- 
ment." Sec. 17, Act of May 13, 1915. 



School District of the City of Pa. 

OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT 

Accoi'ding to our records has left your employ. 

Please return h . . . . working certificate to this office at once, as required by law. 

Yours very truly, 

Superintendent of Schools 

"On tennination of the employment of a minor under sixteen 
years of age, the employment certificate issued for each minor shall 
be returned by mail, by the employer to the official i ;suing the same, 
immediately upon demand of the minor for whom the certificate was 
issued, or otherwise within three days after termination of said em- 
ployment." 

Sec. 17, Act of May 13, 1915. 



School District of the City of , Pa. 

OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT 

Principal School. 

, who attended our school, is not work- 
ing at present and should return to regular attendance at school. Please see that 
he does so at once. 

Yours very truly, 

Supci'intendent of Schools 



56 

The average employer will respond to personal interest in his 
welfare by the one responsible tor certiticating minors between the 
ages of 14 and 16 years. The gratifying results which come from 
the occasional use of the telephone in keeping in touch with em- 
ployers, are ample reward for the trouble. 



PERMIT REQUIRED FOR MINOR TO WORK ON THE 
FARM OR AT DOMESTIC SERVICE IN PRIVATE HOME 

The legislature of 1921 amended Section 1416 of the School Code. 
The amendment states that the provisions of this act requiring regular 
attendance shall not apply to any child between the ages of fourteen 
and sixteen years, who has completed a course of study equivalent to 
six yearly grades of the public school, and is regularly engaged in 
any useful and lawful employment or service during the time the 
public schools are in session, and who holds an employment certifi- 
cate issued according to law; nor shall the said provisions apply 
to any child, between the ages of fourteen and sixteen years, en- 
gaged in farm work or domestic service in a private home on a per- 
mit issued by the school board or the designated school official of 
the school district of the child's residence, in accordance with regula- 
tions which the Superintendent of Public Instruction is hereby au- 
thorized to prescribe. (Amendment of May 20, 1921, P. L. 1034, 
Sec. 1.) 

In accordance with Section 1416, no minor under 14 years of age 
may be employed upon the farm or at domestic service in a private 
home during the time public schools are in session and no such minor 
between 14 and 16 years of age may be so employed during the com- 
pulsory attendance period unless he holds a permit issued in accord- 
ance with regulations which the Superintendent of Public Instruction 
is authorized to prescribe. 

The Superintendent of Public Instruction has prescribed that there 
shall be two types of permits for farm or domestic service, viz. 

1. The Emergency Permit (Form P-FDS-EM) 

2. The Exemption Permit (Form P-FDS-EX) 

Before granting either of these permits the issuing officer must 
receive proof. 

1. That the minor is 14 years of age or over. 

The same proof is required for the permit as for the employ- 
ment certificate. (See proof of age page 51). 

2. That the minor has completed the work of the first six yearly 

grades of the elementarj^ schools. 

3. That such an urgent need in the family of the minor exists as 

to demand his services. 

The Emergency Permit (Form P-FDS-EM). 

When all requirements have been met this permit may be granted 
when the minor is to be excused from attendance at school for but a 
very limited period of time. 

The Exemption Permit (Form P-FDS-EX). 

When all requirements have been met this permit may be granted 
when the minor is to be permanently excused from attendance at 
school. 



57 

Eeturn of the minor to school at any time automatically cancels 
either permit. 

If the urgent need under which either permit was issued ceases to 
exist, the permit shall be cancelled and the minor required to return 
to school. 

Permits shall be issued in each school district by the ofificial who 
issues employment certificates. 

HOW TO SECURE EXEMPTION FROM SCHOOL FOR FARM OR 
DOMESTIC SERVICE 

1. Emergency Permit. 

(a) The parent or guardian shall secure application (Form 
PGS) from the issuing officer. 

(b) The parent or guardian shall fill out this form as indicat- 
ed; also the lower half of Form A-FDS-EM. (See reverse side of 
PGS.) 

(c) The parent or guardian shall then take the application 
form to the principal or teacher of the school which the minor last 
attended. 

(d) The teacher shall insert the school record and other re- 
quired data in the upper half of Form A-FDS-EM. 

(e) The parent or guardian shall then take the application to 
the issuing officer together with one of the following evidences that 
the minor is between fourteen and sixteen years of age, which is re- 
quired in the order herein designated. 

1. Transcript of birth certificate filed according to law; or 

2. Baptismal certificate or certified transcript of the record 
of baptism; or 

3. Passport showing age; or 

4. Any other documentary record of age other than school 
record; or 

5. Physician's certificate of evidence of age accompanied by 
an affidavit of age made by the parent or guardian. 

(f) The issuing officer shall decide whether the claim of neces- 
sity as set forth on Form PGS is sufficiently urgent to warrant 
the issuance of the permit for the time requested. 

The time for which the permit is requested shall not exceed .30 
calendar days. 

(g) If the issuing officer approves the statement of necessity 
he shall fill out Form P-F'DS-EM. 

(h) The issuing officer shall give the permit, (Form P-FDS- 
EM), directly to the employer or mail it to him. It shall never be 
given to the minor. 

(i) The issuing officer shall notify the principal or teacher as 
soon as a permit has been issued for any minor, and shall give the 
date of its expiration. 

(j) The teacher shall consider said minor as belonging to the 
school during the emergency period, and shall use the letter "T" in 
the report book to indicate the reason for absence and record the date 
the minor must return to school. 



58 

(k) As soon as the time has expired for which the permit was 
issued, it shall be returned to the issuing officer and the minor shall 
return to school. 

2. Exemption Permit. 

The conditions and procedure upon which an exemption permit 
(Form P-FDS-EX) shall be issued are the same as those required for 
an emergency permit, with the following exceptions: 

(a) The farm or home conditions which necessitate the ser- 
vices of the minor shall be permanent rather than temporary. 

(b) The minor shall attend a continuation school eight hours 
per week if there be one accessible. 

(c) The issuing officer shall notify the principal or teacher of 
the continuation school that the said minor has been granted an ex- 
emption permit. 

(d) The teacher shall, Avhen notified b,y the issuing officer that 
an exemption permit has been issued after the opening of school, in- 
dicate in the report book by the symbol "P" the absence of the minor 
and will no longer count him as a member of the school. 

Note: — ^The permit must not be accepted as an excuse for irregular 
attendance. As soon as the minor returns to school the permit be- 
comes void although the period for wliich it was issued may not 
have expired. 



SECTIONS OF THE LAW GOVERNING THE EMPLOYMENT 

OF MINORS 

AN ACT 

To provide for the health, safety, and welfare of minors : By forbidding their em- 
ployment or work in certain establishments and occupations, and under certain 
specified ages; by restricting their hours of labor, and regulating certain con- 
ditions of their employment ; by requiring employment certificates for certain 
minors, and prescribing the kinds thereof, and the rules for the issuance, 
reissuance, filing, return, and recording of the same ; by providing that the In- 
dustrial Board shall, under certain conditions, detei'mine and declare whether 
certain occupations are within the prohibitions of this act ; requiring that certain 
minors shall, during the period of their employment, attend certain schools, to be 
established as therein provided, and to be approved by the State Superintendent 
of Public Instruction, and regulating the conditions of such attendance ; au- 
thorizing the State Board of Education, in certain cases, to appoint attendance 
officers to aid in enforcing the provisions of this act, and creating the salary and 
expenses of such officers a charge against the school district wherein they are 
employed ; requiring certain abstracts and notices to be posted ; providing for the 
enforcement of this act by the Commissioner of Labor and Industry, the atten- 
dance officers of school districts , and police officers ; and defining the procedure 
in prosecutions thereunder, and establishing certain presumptions in relation 
thereto ; providing penalties for the violation of the provisions thereof ; and re- 
pealing all acts or parts of acts inconsistent therewith. 

Section 1. Be it enacted, &c.. That wherever the term "establish-, 
nient" is used in this act, it shall mean any place within this Com- 
monwealth where work is done for compensation of any kind, to 
whomever payable: Provided, That this act shall not apply to chil- 
dren employed on the farm, or in domestic service in private homes. 

The term ''person," when used in this act, shall be construed to 
include any individual, firm, partnership, unincorporated association, 
corporation, or municipality. 

The term ''week," when used in this act, shall mean any consecutive 
seven days. 

The term "minor," when used in this act, shall mean any person 
under twenty-one years of age. Wlierever the singular is used in this 
act the plural shall be included, and wherever the masculine gender 
is used the feminine and neuter shall be included. 

Section 2. No minor under fourteen years of age shall be employed 
or permitted to work in, about, or in connection with, any estab- 
lishment or in any occupation. 

Section 3. It shall be unlawful for any person to employ any minor 
between fourteen and sixteen years of age, unless such minor shall, 
during the period of such employment, attend, for a period or periods, 
equivalent to not less than eight hours each week, a school approved 
by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. The school afore- 
said may be conducted in the establishment where said minor is 
employed, or in a public school building, or in such other place, either 
in the district in which said minor is employed or in any joint school 
authorized by section eighteen hundred and one (1801) of article 
eighteen (18) of an act, approved May the eighteenth, nineteen hun- 
dred and eleven (1911), entitled "An act to establish a public school 

59 



60 

system in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, together with the pro- 
visions by which it shall be artministered, and prescribing penalties 
for the violation thereof ; providing revenue to establish and maintain 
the same, and the method of collecting such revenue; and repealing 
all laws, general, special, or local, or any parts thereof, that are or 
may be inconsistent therewith," as the board of school directors of 
the school district in which said minor is employed may designate: 
Provided, That the school district required by this act to maintain 
a continuation school may enter into an agreement with a district 
already maintaining an approved continuation school for the edu- 
cation of its continuation school pupils, upon such terms as the two 
boards of directors may mutually agree, said agreement to be valid 
only Avhen approved by the Superintendent of Public Instruction; 
Provided further, however, That such school shall be within reason- 
able access to said place of employment. Any school aforesaid shall 
be part of the public school system of the school district wherein 
said minor is employed, or of the school district or districts where 
said minor attends. The school hours shall not be on Saturday; 
nor before eight o'clock in the morning, nor after five o'clock in the 
afternoon, of any other day. Every person who shall employ any 
said minor shall notify the officer by Avhom the employment certifi- 
cate, as hereinafter provided for the said minor, shall have been 
issued, within four days after said minor shall have entered his em- 
ployment, of the name and location of the school at which said minor 
should be in attendance, and of the hours which said minor should 
attend said school during the continuance of said employment: 
Provided, That this section shall not be effective in any school district 
until there has been established, within said school district in which 
said minor is employed, or within reasonable access to said 
place of emplovment in an adjoining district, such a school. (Amend- 
ed April 27, i927, P. L. 442.) 

Section 4. No minor under sixteen years of age shall be permitted 
to work in, about, or in connection with any establishment, or in any 
occupation, for more than fifty-one hours in any one week, or more 
than nine hours in any one day, or before six o'clock in the morning, 
or after eight o'clock in the evening, of any day. In computing the 
maximum number of hours per day or per week permitted under this 
act, the hours spent in school by said minors shall be considered as 
part of the working day or working week. 

Section 5. No minor under sixteen years of age shall be employed 
or permitted to work in operating or assisting in operating any of the 
following machines, which, for the purposes of this act are considered 
dangerous: Paper-lace machines, Job or cylinder printing-presses 
operated by power other than foot-power; stamping machines used 
in sheet metal and tinware or in paper or leather manufacturing, 
or in washer and nut factories; metal or paper cutting machines; 
corrugating-rolls, such as are used in making corrugated paper, or 
in roofing or washboard factories ; dough-brakes, or cracker machinery 
of any description : wire or iron straightening or drawing machinery ; 
rolling-mill machinery; power punches or shears; washing or grind- 
ing or mixing machiner;\' ; calendar-rolls in paper and rubber manu- 
facturing or other heavy rolls driven by power; laundering mach- 
inery; upon or in connection with any dangerous electrical machinery 
or appliance. Nor shall any minor under sixteen years of age be em- 



61 

ployed or permitted to work, in any capacity, in adjusting or assist- 
ing in adjusting au}^ belt to any machinery, or in proximity to any 
hazardous or unguarded belts, machinery, or gearing, while the 
same is in motion ; nor on scaffolding ; nor in heavy work in the 
building trades; nor in stripping, assorting, or manufacturing to- 
bacco; nor in any tunnel; nor in a public bowling alley; nor in a 
pool or billard-room; nor in the manufacturing of paints, colors, 
or white-lead; nor in any capacity in preparing compositions in 
which dangerous leads or acids are used; nor in the manufacture 
or use of dangerous or poisonous dyes ; nor upon any railroad, steam, 
electric or otherwise; nor upon any boat engaged in the transporta- 
tion of passengers or merchandise; nor in operating motor-vehicles 
of any description ; nor in any anthracite or bituminous coal-mine, 
or in any other mine ; nor about blast-furnaces ; nor in or about any 
distillery, brewery or any establishment where alcoholic liquors are 
manufactured or bottled. 

No minor under eighteen years of age shall be employed or per- 
mitted to work in the operation or management of hoisting machines, 
in oiling or cleaning machinery, in motion ; in the operation or use 
of any polishing or buffing-wheel ; at switch-tending, at gate tending 
at track-repairing; as a brakeman, fireman, engineer, or motorman 
or conductor, upon a railroad or railway; as a pilot, fireman, or en- 
gineer upon any boat or vessel; in or about establishments wherein 
gunpowdei*, nitroglycerine, dynamite, or other high or dangerous ex- 
plosive, is manufactured or compounded; as a chauffer of an auto- 
mobile or an aeroplane. 

No minor shall be employed or permitted to work in, or in connec- 
tion with, any saloon or bar-room wTiere alcoholic liquors are sold. 

In addition to the foregoing, it shall be unlawful for any minor 
under eighteen years of age to be employed or permitted to work in 
any other occupation dangerous to the life or limb, or injurious to the 
health or morals, of the said minor, as such occupations shall, from 
time to time, after public hearing thereon, be determined and de- 
clared by the Industrial Board of the Department of Labor and 
Industry: Provided, That if it should be hereafter held by the 
courts of this Commonwealth that the power herein sought to be 
granted to the said board is for any reason invalid, such holding 
shall not be taken in any case to affect or impair the remaining pro- 
visions of this section. 

Section 6. No minor shall be permitted to work as messenger for 
a telephone, telegraph, or messenger company, in the distribution, 
collection, transmission, or delivery of goods or messages, before six 
o'clock in the morning or after eight o'clock in the evening of any day. 

Section 7. No male minor under twelve years of age, and no 
female minor, shall distribute, sell, expose, or offer for sale any news- 
paper, magazine, periodical, or other publication, or any article of 
merchandise of any sort, in any street or public place. No male 
minor under fourteen years of age, and no female minor shall be 
suffered, employed, or permitted to work at any time as a scavenger, 
bootblack, or in any other trade or occupation performed in any 
street or public place. No male minor under sixteen years of age, 
and no female minor, shall engage in any occupation mentioned in 
this section before six o'clock in the morning, or after eight o'clock 
in the evening, of any day. 



62 

Section 8. Before any minor under sixteen j^ears of age shall be 
employed, permitted or snffered to work in, about, or in connection 
with, any establishment, or in any occupation, the person employing 
such minor shall procure and keep on file, and accessible to any 
attendance officer, deputy factory inspector, or other authorized 
inspector or officer charged with the enforcement of this act, an 
employment certificate as hereinafter provided, issued for said minor. 

Section 9, Employment certificate shall be issued only by the 
following officials, for children residing Avithin their respective public 
school districts : In public school districts having a district super- 
intendent or supervising principal, by such superintendent or super- 
vising principal ; in school districts having no district superintendent 
or supervising principal, by the secretai'y of the board of school 
directors of that district: Provided, That any district superinten- 
dent, supein^ising principal, or secretary of the board of school direc- 
tors, hereby authorized to issue such certificates, may authorize and 
deputize, in writing, any other school official to act in his stead for 
the purpose of issuing such certificate. All employment certificates 
shall be forwarded by mail, by the issuing officer to the prospective 
employer of a minor for whom the employment certificate is issued. 

Section 10. Application for the employment certificate must be 
made in person, by the parent, guardian, or legal custodian of tlie 
minor for whom such employment certificate is requested; or, if 
said minor have no parent, guardian, or legal custodian, then by the 
next friend, who must be over tAventy-one years of age; and no em- 
ployment certificate shall be issued until the said minor has person- 
ally appeared before, and been examined by, the officer issuing the 
certificate. 

Section 11. Employment certificates shall be of two classes, — 
general employment certificates and vacation employment certifi- 
cates. General employment certificates shall entitle the minor, four- 
teen to sixteen years of age, to work during the entire year. Vaca- 
tion employment certificates shall entitle the minor, fourteen to six- 
teen years of age, to work on any day, except on such days as such 
minor is required to attend school, under the provisions of the laws 
now in force or hereafter enacted. 

Section 12. The official authorized to issue a general employ- 
ment certificate shall not issue such certificate until he has received, 
examined, approved, and filed the following papers namely: — 

a. A statement signed by the prospective employer, or by some 
one duly authorized on his behalf, stating that he expects to give 
such minor present employment, and setting forth the character of 
the same, and the number of hours per day and per week which said 
minor will be emploj' ed ; 

b. A school record, as hereinafter provided ; 

c. A certificate of physical fitness, as hereinafter provided; 

d. Proof of age, as hereinafter provided. 

Section 13. For the issuance of a general employment certificate, 
the school record required by this act shall be filled out and signed 
by the principal of the school which the minor has last attended, or 
by some one duly authorized by him, and shall be furnished to any 
minor who may be entitled thereto. It shall certify that the said 
minor has completed a course of study equivalent to six yearly grades 
of the public school, in the English language, spelling, reading, arith- 



63 

metic, geography, and history of the United States. Such school 
record shall also give the full name, date of birth, and residence of 
minor, and the name and residence of the parent, guardian, or cus- 
todian, as shown on the record of the school. 

Section 14. The certificate of physical fitness required by this act 
shall be signed by a physician, approved by the board of school 
directors of the school district in which minor resides, and shall 
state that the said minor has been thoroughly examined by the said 
physician at the time of the application for an employment certi- 
ficate, and is physically qualified for the employment specified in the 
Statement of the prospective employer. In any case where the said 
physician shall deem it advisable, he may issue a certificate of phy- 
sical fitness for a limited time; at the expiration of which time the 
holder shall again appear, and submit to a new examination, before 
being permitted to continue at work. 

Section 15. The evidence of age required by section twelve of this 
act shall consist of one of the following proofs of age, which shall 
be required in the order herein designated : — 

a. A duly attested transcript of the birth certificate, filed accord- 
ing to law with a register of vital statistics, or other officer charged 
with the duty of recording birth ; or, 

b. A baptismal certificate or transcript of record of baptism, 
duly certified, and showing the date of birth ; or, 

c. A passport showing the age of the immigrant ; or, 

d. In case none of the aforesaid proofs of age shall be obtainable, 
and only in such case, the issuing officer may accept, in lieu thereof, 
an}' other documentary record of age (other than a school record or 
an affidavit of age), or transcript thereof, duly certified, Avhicli shall 
appear to the satisfaction of the issuing officer to be good and suffi- 
cient evidence of age; or, 

e. In case none of the aforesaid proofs of age shall be obtainable, 
and only in such cases, the issuing officer may accept, in lieu thereof, 
the signed statement of the physician, approved by the Board of 
School Directors, stating that, after examination, it is the opinion 
of such physician that the minor has attained the age required by law 
for the occupation in which he expects to engage. Such statement 
shall be accompanied by an affidavit, signed by the minor's parent, 
guardian, or custodian, by his next friend, certifying to the name, 
date, and place of birth of the minor, and that the parent, guardian, 
custodian, or next friend, signing such statement, is unable to pro- 
duce any of the j)roofs of age specified in the preceding sub^divi- 
sions of this section. 

Section IG. The official authorized to issue a vacation employ- 
ment certificate shall not issue such certificate until he shall have 
received and filed the following papers, duly executed, namely: — 

a. A statement signed by the prospective employer, or by someone 
duly authorized on his behalf, stating that he expects to give such 
minor present employment, and setting forth the character of the 
same, and tlie number of hours per day and per week which said 
minor will be employed; 

b. A certificate of physical fitness, as provided in section fourteen 
of this act; 



64 

c. Evidence of age, showing that the said minor is fourteen years 
of age or upwards, which evidence of age shall be of similar character 
to the evidence heretofore specitied in section fifteen of this act. 

Section 17. It shall be the duty of every person who shall employ 
any minor under sixteen years of age to acknowledge, in writing, to 
the official issuing the same, the receipt of the employment certificate 
of said minor, within three days after the beginning of such employ- 
ment. On termination of the employment of a minor under sixteen 
years of age, the employment certificate issued for such minor shall 
be returned by mail, by the employer, to the official issuing the same, 
immediately upon demand of the minor for whom the certificate 
was issued, or, otherwise, within three days after termination of 
said employment. The official to whom said certificate is so re- 
turned shall file said certificate aud preserve the same. Any minor 
whose employment certificate has been returned, as above provided, 
shall be entitled to a new employment certificate upon presentation 
of a statement from the prospective employer, as hereinabove pro- 
vided, accompanied by a certificate of physical fitness, issued in the 
manner hereinabove provided and based upon a re-examination of 
said minor, and certifying that the minor is physically able to under- 
take the work for which the new employment certificate is to be 
issued. 

Section 18. All employment certificates shall be issued on forms 
supplied by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and 
shall contain the name and address of the prospective employer, and 
the nature of the occupation in which said minor is expected to en- 
gage; and no certificate shall be valid excepting in the hands of the 
employer so named, and for the occuj)ations so designated ; and shall 
state, the name, sex, date, and place of birth, place of residence, 
color of hair and eyes, and any distinguishing physical characteristics 
of the minor for whom it shall be issued. It shall certify that the 
minor named has personally appeared before the issuing officer, and 
has been examined; and that all the papers required by law have 
been duly examined, approved and filed; and that all the conditions 
and requirements for issuing an emploj^ment certificate have been 
fulfilled. Every certificate shall be signed, in the presence of the 
issuing officer, by the minor for whom it sliall be issued. The cer- 
tificate shall bear a number, shall show the date of its issue, and 
shall be signed by the issuing officer. Vacation employment cer- 
tificates shall be of a color different from the general employment 
certificate, and shall bear across their face the legend "Vacation 
Employment Certificate." 

Section 19. Whenever a certificate shall be refused to any minor, 
the school record issued to such minor shall be forwarded by the 
official refusing to issue the certificate, to the principal of the school 
which said minor shall attend, or to the compulsory attendance 
officer. 

Section 20. Whenever the State Superintendent of Public In- 
struction cannot secure efl'ective enforcement of the foregoing pro- 
visions of this act, in any school district, he is hereby authorized and 
required to report that fact to the State Board of Education. In 
such case the State Board of Education is authorized and required 
to secure such enforcement by appointing attendance officers in such 
districts. The salary and expenses of such attendance officers shall 
be a charge against said district where said attendance officers are 



65 

actually employed, and shall be deducted from any State moneys 
apportioned to said district for school purposes. 

Section 21. It shall be the duty of every person who shall em- 
ploy any minor, under the age of sixteen years, to post and keep 
posted, in a conspicuous place in every establishment wherein said 
minor is employed, permitted or suffered to work, a printed copy 
of the sections of this act relating to the hours of labor, and a list 
or lists of all minors employed under the age of sixteen years. Such 
copies of the sections of this act and blanks for compliance with the 
provisions shall be prepared by the Department of Labor and In- 
dustry, and be furnished by it on application of such employer. 
Every person employing minors under sixteen years of age shall 
furnish the employment certificates and lists, provided for in this 
act, for inspection, to attendance officers, factory inspectors, or 
other authorized inspectors or officers charged with the enforcement 
of this act. 

Section 22. Whenever any minor shall be employed or permitted 
to work in any establishment or at any occupation, who in the judg- 
ment of any officer charged with the enforcement of this act, is 
under the legal age for such Avork, or is working at a time forbidden 
by law for such minor; or whenever any minor shall be employed or 
permitted to work in, or in connection with, any establishment, who, 
in the judgement of any officer charged with the enforcement of this 
act, is under sixteen years of age, and for whom the person employ- 
ing or permitting such minor to work shall not have on file an em- 
ployment certificate; such officer may demand from the person em- 
ploying or permitting such minor to work that he shall either fur- 
nish to such officer, within ten days, evidence of age, as defined in 
section fifteen of this act, that such minor is in fact of legal age for 
the work in which he is engaged, or over, or sixteen years of age or 
over, as the case shall be, or shall cease to employ or permit such 
minor to work as aforesaid : Provided, That such person, by thus 
ceasing to employ or permit such minor to work, shall not be relieved 
from any of the fines or penalties provided in this act for the em- 
ployment or work of a minor contrary to law. In case such person 
shall fail to furnish to said officer, within ten days after the making 
of such demand, the required evidence of age, and shall thereafter 
employ such minor or permit him to work as aforesaid, proof of the 
making of such demand and of failure to produce the evidence re- 
quired shall be prima facie evidence of the illegal employment of 
such minor, in any prosecution brought therefor. 

Section 23. Any person, or any agent or any manager for any 
person, who shall violate any of the provisions of this act, or who 
shall compel or permit any minor to violate any of the provisions of 
this act, or who shall hinder or delay any officer in the performance 
of his duty in the enforcement of this act, shall, upon conviction 
thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than ten (|10.00) dol- 
lars nor more than two hundred (|200.00) dollars, or to undergo an 
imprisonment of not more than ten days, or both, at the discretion of 
the court. 

Section 24. It shall be the duty of the Commissioner of Labor and 
Industry, the attendance officers of the various school districts, and 
the police of the various cities, boroughs, and townships of this 
Commonwealth, to enforce the provisions of this act. Prosecutions 



66 

for violations of this act may be instituted by any factory inspector, 
attendance officer, or police officer, upon oath or aflfirmation. All 
prosecutions for violations of this act shall be in the form of sum- 
mary criminal proceedings, instituted before a magistrate, alderman, 
or Justice of the peace within the school district wherein the offense 
was committed. Upon conviction, after a hearing, the sentences pro- 
vided in this act shall be imposed. All fines collected under this act 
shall be paid into the State Treasury, for the use of the Common- 
wealth. 

Section 25, All acts or parts of acts inconsistent herewith be, 
and the same are hereby, repealed. 

Section 26. This act shall take effect on the first day of January, 
Anno Domini nineteen hundred and sixteen (1916). 

Approved— The 13th day of May, A. D. 1915. 

MARTIN G. BRUMBAUGH. 



67 

SPECIMENS OF SOME EMPLOYMENT FORMS 

Specimens of some employment forms are given below. All of these 
forms are furnished by the Child Helping and Accounting Bureau, 
Department of Public Instruction, free of charge to a school district 
upon the application of the issuing officer. 

The "Record of School Officials" shalF be filled out and sent to the Attendance 
Bureau, Department of Public Instruction by the secretary not later than September 
15th of each year. Even, if the data cannot be supplied by that date, the card 
shall be sent, and additional data forwarded as elections occur. 



Form R-SO Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
CHILD HELPING AND ACCOUNTING BUREAU 

Harrisburg 

RECORD OF SCHOOL OFFICIALS 
1927-1928 



County District 

1. Secretary 

Address 

2. President 



Address 

3. District Superintendent or 

Supervising Principal 

Address 

4. Public School Ofiicial 

Deputized as Issuing Officer 

Address 

NOTE : — Be sure to check to the left the person to receive Employment 
Certificate Blanks and to issue employment certificates, age certificates, and 
permits. There shall be but one issuing officer in each school district. 

(Over) 



Reverse side of Form R-SO. 



To the Secretary : — 

Kindly fill out this card at once and forward it to the Child Helping and 
Accounting Bureau, Department of Public Instruction, Harrisburg, Pa. 

Employment certificates, permits, and age certificates shall be issued by the 
district superintendent, supervising principal, or secretary of the school board 
in the order named. Any one of these officials may deputize in writing an- 
other public school official to issue the indicated certificates and pemiits. In 
order that a deputized official may receive the necessary blanks due notice 
of his appointment should be forwarded to this Department on the Author- 
ization Blank, Form C-AB. 

If a principal is to be recognized as a supervising principal he must have 
the same qualifications as a superintendent and be designated supervising 
principal at a stated meeting of the board. 

Kindly indicate 

1. Number of days in school term 

2. Date set for beginning of Compulsory Attendance Period 

3. Percent Compulsory Attendance period is of entire term 

4. Chief Attendance Officer 

Address 

5. Total number of attendance officers employed (Include Chief) 

(Over) 



68 

Eule M-21. "That to secure better administration of the Act No. 
177 of 1915, it is required tliat minors who are sixteen and under 
eighteen years of age, on apph' ing for a position in any establishment, 
or in any occupation in this Commonwealth, shall present an age 
certificate authorized by the Attendance Bureau of the Department 
of Public Instruction and issued and signed by the proper officers 
of the local school board. Such certificate shall remain on file with 
the employer during said minor's term of employment to be returned 
to the minor when the term of employment ceases." 

Approved August 7, 1925. 



(USE INK) Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 

DEPARTMENT OP PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
krv rcDTlcirATC ATTENDANCE BUREAU 

Rbt IbKllrllAlb Harrisburg 

No Name of Minor 

Last name first 
E\idence of age accepted (Cross out al l except the one accepted) 

(a) Birth Certificate 

(b) Baptismal Certificate 

(c) Passport 

(d) Other documentary record 

(e) Affidavit of parent or guardian accompanied by physician's statement 

of opinion as to the age of minor. 

Signature of Minor 

Name in full 
This is to certify that according to the records and above evidence of 

age filed in the office of the School District of 

the above named minor is 16 years of age or over. 

Issuing OflBcer 

Date Position 

Form AC 



DATE OP BIRTH 


Month 1 Day | 


Year 


! i 1 



Reverse side of Form AC. 



To the Employer 

This card is issued by the school district that the employer may have 
authentic evidence that the minor is 16 years of age or over. It should be 
required by the employer of every minor betvi^een. 16 an 18 years of age, 
as specified in ruling M-21 of the State Industrial Board. It should be 
kept on file while the minor is in his employ. 

To the Issuing Officer 

The evidences of age indicated on the face of this certificate should be 
required in the order given. Insist upon a birth certificate if available, either 
from the parent or the State Bureau of Vital Statistics, Harrisburg, Penna. 



The "Employment Certificate Report" shall contain the summary data of all 
"Employment Reports" for a district. The issuing officer shall send it to the 
Child Helping and Accounting Bureau, Department of Public Instruction, quarterly, 
for the quarters ending September 30, December 31, March 31, and June 30. 



69 




70 



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71 

The issuing officer shall send quarterly a copy of "Employment Report" to each 
employer of labor. The employer shall fill out the data required and return, the 
report to the issuing officer who shall transfer the data to "Report of Firms 
Employing Minors". 



053 



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72 

"Request foi- Blanks" shall be used by the proper official in ordering supplies 
from the State. The form letters are defined as follows : 

PB-GEC — Preliminary blank for General Employment Certificate. 
GEO — General Employment Certificate. 
AC — Age Certificate. 
PB-VEC — Preliminary blank for Vacation Employment Certificate. 
VEC — Vacation Employment Certificate. 
A-PS — Parent's Affidavit and Physician's Statement. 
ER — Employment Report. 
A-FDS-EM — Emergency permit for Farm or Domestic Service. 
A-FDS-EX — Exemption permit for Farm or Domestic Service. 



REQUEST FOR BLANKS 



Signature of Official to Receive Order, 



School District 



Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 

DEPARTMENT OP PUBLIC* INSTRUCTION 

CHILD HELPING AND ACCOUNTING 

BUREAU, HARRISBUKG 



Title of official 'Superintendent 

♦Supervising Principal 
♦Secretary of District 
♦Deputized OflBcial 

Post Office Address 



County 

Our School District will need the forms listed below for use in issuing employment 
certificates. 



No. 
to be 
sent 


Form Number 


No. 
to be 
sent 


Form Number 


No. 

to be 
sent 


Perm Number 




PB-GEC, Preliminary 
blanks 




PB-VEC, Preliminary 
blanks 




ER, Employment re- 
port 




GEC, General employ- 
ment certificate 




VEC, Vacation em- 
ployment certificate 




A-FDS-EM, Emergency 
permit 




AC, Age certificate 




A-PS, Affidavit physi 
cian's statement 




A-FDS-EX, Exemption 
permit 



Please retain this card for the next order. Fill out and return to the Child Helping 
and Accounting Bureau, before your supply is exhausted. 
Form C-RFB 1. 'Cross out three 



LIBRARY OF CONbRti>:> 




